[DISPLACED] Trespasser's Journey

Chapters

Chapter 1 (Rewritten)
Chapter 2 (Rewritten)
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6 (C/O)
Chapter 7 (NSFW)
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 10.5 (C/O)
Chapter 11
Chapter 12 (C/O)
Chapter 13
Chapter 14 (NSFW)
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17: Part 1

Chapter 1 (Rewritten)

Author's Note

As is my norm, dislike if you enjoyed, like if you didn't or just didn't read this. And edits done to this first chapter goes to Bromad! Go follow him, since he might end up being the co-writer of this Displaced story.

Story is undergoing a rewrite. User Zemez is in control of Sam.

Chapter 1 (Rewritten)

Ashton Grey was dressed to express his interest in an mlp sci-fi actionesque roleplay he and a group of friends were doing. At heart, he loved the idea of a Soft Metal Furred Wolf, a race of bipedal wolves that live on a planet with a near constant electromagnetic storm in their upper atmosphere. As such, their fur has adapted to create a form of Faraday Cage to insulate themselves from the maddening forces of said storm. Red robes and cowl, grey fur, a wolf's mask, with a small white humanoid looking skull pendant clasping the cowl hood together.

This specific Wolf was named Silphen Dardo. Archmage, and second in command of all the Silver Wolves at his home.

Ashton found it difficult searching for a book thick enough to represent all the different branches of magic, with a bizarre cover design to boot to get his friends who saw him with it talking. Luckily, there was a vendor off to the side that had just what he needed.

"Heyo! How much for the spellbook?" Ashton asked the merchant.

Smiling, he gestured to the book with a simple wave. "For you and that snazzy OC you got there? I'll sell it for twenty."

This should have set off some red flags because he had exactly twenty dollars to his name, and for a blank book? A rip-off.

"Sweet! Here!" Ashton simply pulled out the twenty dollar bill and handed it over unthinkingly. He picked up the book…

...And was in the middle of Ponyville's fountain.

After looking around for a few seconds in pure shock, one of the three flower drama ponies shrieked and feinted. The other two followed suit, and every other pony looked at him, shrieked, and panicked. The now giant bipedal wolf just stared at the pastel ponies and said one word.

"...Fuck."

It was Sam’s first time at one of these cons, he spent most of his money on the ticket and room, so he had dressed light. His aqua t-shirt and blue pants were a dead giveaway that he had dressed as Steve from minecraft.

Unfortunately, he was missing something truly… Minecrafty. He was sure he could find something, but when he opened his wallet, he was sure he saw a fly come out. Thirty bucks to his name, and he doubted he’d find something for that cheap.

After an hour of being asked about his costume by people who he was ashamedly jealous of for having bigger wallets, he had found a miracle. A shady guy dressed as a Wandering Merchant was selling a pickaxe, he didn’t even care that it wasn’t a diamond pick, it was Minecraft, and only twenty dollars!

He marched up to the booth, not caring that he accidentally shoved someone out of the way before slamming his hands on the table.

“Pick, need it, pleeeease…” He wheezed out, he was desperate. The man just chuckled at him.

“If you have twenty dollars, Steve.” He opened his wallet, not even counting his money before putting them in the guy’s outstretched hand. At least somebody finally recognized his cheap costume!

As soon as his hand touched it, he felt himself beginning to fall… and the merchant he just bought the pick from smiling like a devil as he watched Sam falling into the black before he passed out.

The birds were chirping, crickets cricketing, and the stone felt cold on his thin t-shirt. His eyes opened to the broken ceiling above him. The daylight stung his eyes, and he shielded them with his tan arm.

Looking around, the place was odd. Two thrones sat on two separate raised platforms. Each one had a different motif, as the left had the sun and stars, the right one had the sun.

“Where the fuck am I?” Sam asked as he looked around, confused briefly.

He then noticed the white boxes in the bottom of his vision. The pickaxe, it’s icon being that of a wooden handle with an iron head. Aqua blue at the tips, a circle of red at the top of the handle, and a green pentagon where the handle met the head.

“No way…” He breathed out, was he in minecraft? The textures looked normal, nothing was really blocky, except the stone bricks of course. He didn’t see any of the boxes highlighted, and he didn’t have a mouse to scroll through them.

“Uhh… Pickaxe?” he muttered. The same pickaxe he bought at the con, it no longer looked like it belonged in a world where blocks reigned. It was sleek and the tip was actually sharp. Of course the icon still looked like it belonged in minecraft.

He tapped it idly along the ground gently, the tink tink against the stone was oddly soothing. He had to stop himself from falling over as the pickaxe no longer was hitting stone, but air.

He looked down at the square hole he made, then at the slot in his inventory showing a block of stone. He knew its name instinctively as Smooth Stone.

He looked around at the broken architecture, then back at his pickaxe and smiled, he had a lot of work to do...

Silphen grumbled as he got out of the fountain, trying to dry himself off. He was watching his surroundings carefully in case one of the natives decided to attack him. He spotted his spellbook safely off to the side, well away from the water.

"Well that's one good thing I guess. Though how it is that I got the gloves on this tight is beyond me…" Silphen said as he flexed one of his hands, feeling how his blood was pumping through it. "I swear if this is a massive joke, I'm gonna kick someone in the dick… Because if it isn't… Then I'm gonna need to find a way to boop an alicorn…"

Silphen promptly began trying to find the nearest sign that would point him to the second most iconic building in the show his friends back in high school got him into… Sugarcube Corner.

Chapter 2 (Rewritten)

“Right, wood.” Sam’s first thought was, wood logs made planks, planks made a crafting bench, and then the crafting bench made-

“Ow…” He held his head, Recipes, Blueprints and instructions flooded his head, Bread, focusing crystal, even a recipe to make weapons, which even he barely understood.

He shook his head, he flipped his pickaxe once in the air before catching it. It was time to get some wood.

...And immediately regretted leaving the castle. Three wolves were sitting in the courtyard outside. If they were normal wolves he wouldn’t be scared as they’d be neutral, but no, these were hulking monstrosities that stood nearly as tall as his shoulders, had green glowing eyes, and were made out of wood, twigs, logs, and anything else that belonged on a tree and not a living being.

“Okay, back awa-” his words were interrupted as two of the wolves moved faster than he could think, he stretched his arm back, ready to swing his pickaxe before he suddenly didn’t feel his arm anymore.

He looked down. Oh look, his right arm was gone, he wondered where the blood went, when he belatedly realized he was still in combat and the second had just bit at his leg. He didn’t fall however as the hits actually felt like having a pillow thrown at him. His slow mind wondered about the third as he stared down a wooden maw that smelled like a public restroom-

“Oooh fuck… Dying sucks.” He moaned as he was staring up at the ruined castle roof again. He didn’t actually feel terrible, he actually felt great. Well, his body at least, his ego was bruised at being beaten by growling trees.

“Alright, round two,” he said, realizing that all of his items were still within his inventory. He pushed the doors open, his pickaxe held in front of his chest. Of course the wolves were still there, probably wondering where their three course meal went after they killed it.

He ran at them, of course he could never be faster than the instincts of predators, so they noticed him. With the dint of his pickaxe he bashed one aside, the other’s claws raking his side, causing pain, but for some reason his shirt was completely intact. Although he did now notice his hearts above his hotbar.

He swung his pickaxe overhead down on the lazy leader and his previous killer. Embedding it with a large thunk. He didn’t even think about what he was doing as he jumped up using the pickaxe as leverage. One of the two wolves crashed into their leader, scattering them into piles of twigs and leaves, and freeing his pickaxe with no effort from him.

“Did I just-” he said as he landed on his feet, before the third wolf made its presence known by clawing him in the back. He turned to face that one before two bites on the back of his neck and leg summarily sent his hearts to zero.

He groaned as he shielded his eyes from the sunlight filtering through the same roof he’d spawned under three times now. Those creatures were stupid! Eight hearts of damage, false death? Or are they unkillable? Whichever one, he was tired of them!

He began punching the door in anger, picturing them just beyond it. When his fist met nothing but air he jolted, looking at the wooden planks in his inventory, and the cube shaped hole in the door around the size of his head. He had forgotten this was Minecraft, and that he was surrounded by wood and stone, while it might delay his rebuilding efforts, he wasn’t leaving the safety of this castle till he had a full set of Iron armor!

Silphen soon found the gingerbread looking house, taking note that it was boarded up and the lights were off. He sighed and knocked on the boards, calling out as he did, "Hello? You lot are treating me like you did that zebra in the forest."

The effect was… not what he was expecting. He thought they'd just tell him he was wrong, not to tear the boards off and tackle him to the ground in a bundle of cotton candy smelling mane and yellow feathers. "Pinkie! Why did you go and tackle Fluttershy like that!?" Came a shout from… someone that was still inside.

"HiI'mPinkiePie!Areyounewintown?Youhavetobenewintown,I'msureIwouldrecognize-" Pinkie started, her mouth going at an unnatural pace before Fluttershy squirmed out from under her and pried the pink pony off of the unfortunate souls beneath them.

"I'm sorry for that… Everypony here is still very cautious and that tends to make them… Racist…" Fluttershy said, now that she could speak with him herself.

"All good… Hey, why aren't there any guards out here? Surely if something dangerous did happen guards would be the first to respond, right…?" Silphen asked, wincing as he had a minor headache suddenly.

At this point Twilight, being in her Alicorn form, stepped out with a sigh and answered, "Because there's not a single Noble in Canterlot willing to come down here and bother themselves with Ponyville, a village started by a group of apple farmers. I've actually spoken with Princess Celestia about it myself on a few occasions…"

Silphen was caught off guard by that detail, and turned to look at her. "Seriously? All that, because of how the village started…? Seems kinda stupid if you ask me…"

"Yeah, well nobody asked you, ya wolf looking freak! So fu-ack!" Rainbow Dash started, zipping up to his face before a lasso flew over her head and yanked her back.

"Language, lil missy! There ah still foals round here!" Applejack scolded, glaring daggers at the pegasus.

"And really, darling, you'll never find a good stallion with such a foul mouth. Have you even given any thought to those stallions I sent your way~?" Came the regal voice of Rarity as she helped Applejack get her lasso off of Rainbow, who had somehow managed to get tangled in it like a cat in a ball of yarn.

"Why the f- why the hay would I, Rarity? None of them can keep up with somepony as awesome as me!" Rainbow shot back, breaking down into a three way argument with them.

"Some… interesting faces, I guess…" Silphen then stopped as he felt something petting him. He slowly turned and saw that it was Fluttershy, who was humming a faint melody as she did. "Uh… Fluttershy, right? Why uh… why are you petting me…?"

Fluttershy giggled faintly before floating back a bit. "Sorry, it's just that I've never seen a wolf like you before! Do you want to talk about how you got like this?"

Silphen stopped, his brain shutting down as it tried to process what she had just told him. He wasn't in a costume anymore… he WAS the costume… He WAS Silphen Dardo now. 'But surely Fluttershy would've felt that his fur was different right…? Wait, no, she wouldn't have because the metal is soft, like actual fur… Fuck, how did this happen! Do I tell them about the show? No, that would cause more problems than solutions, and the majority of them would be from Twilight… Doubly so if she's anything like she is in the show. Brr… Do NOT need a Twillypanic. Wait! What season am I in!? Twilight has her wings, so post season 3 finale… Fuck, I hope I don't have to deal with Tirek… Wait, no, I will, because there's not a giant crystal tree castle in the middle of town! Goddammit! What fucking season am I in, and why is Celestia staring me down?'

"Hello, dark mage. Care to explain yourself?" The solar diarch asked, seeing that Silphen finally registered she was glaring at him.

"Princess, please! We don't know if the wolf has dark magics, or if he was simply an unfortunate side effect like Cerberus!" Twilight pleaded, trying to assuage her mentor's wrath.

"If it helps any…? I don't plan to actually use them… Hell, I don't even know how to cast, I just grabbed a robe and one of the books and ran!" Silphen said, playing along with the 'innocent wolf' image that was already constructed for him.

"See, Twilight!? The mutt does know dark magic! Therefore it must be purged!" Celestia roared out, preparing to blast Silphen into nothingness. There was a flash that blinded everypony just before Celestia's beam struck him… but when they could see again, there was nothing but a smoking crater where he had been. Twilight was the only one truly aware he was still alive. Of course, she would tell her friends later, provided they swore to keep it secret that is. She just hoped the wolf would survive where she sent him...

Chapter 3

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 4

As the duo of Silphen and Aurana left for the mare's home, she turned to look up at Silphen, a single question in her mind… "Why?"

"Hmm?" Silphen asked, glancing down at her, slightly confused by her single word question.

"Erm… Why were you down there? If the guards didn't know you were in there to start with, then how'd you get there and why were you there to start with…?"

"Ah… shit. Should've seen that question coming… Um… well, you see…" Silphen started, trying to come up with a believable lie for her. He didn't want to risk making her leave him because she found out Celestia wanted his head…

Aurana caught on to his hesitancy, and smiled faintly. "So which one is it that hates you?" She asked, easily deciphering it.

"Celestia," Silphen replied without a second thought. Cursing himself as Aurana stopped mid step to look back at him in surprise.

"Huh… Only reason I can think of for that being the case is that you can use magic she's declared black and to be destroyed, even if in another's land… Right?" Aurana asked, nervous that she had been helping a potentially world ending threat unknowingly.

"Magic isn't inherently good or evil. It just exists. What about a priest using healing magic on someone while they're being tortured so they don't die? Are they good? A necromancer resurrecting someone so that their loved ones can say goodbye. They evil? The way I see it, magic is a means for good and evil, and it doesn't pick sides. Not because it doesn't understand, but because it knows all too well what would happen if it did," Silphen replied, explaining his take on what it means to be 'good' or 'evil' as best he could without tipping his hand.

"Ok… But have you used any spells in an evil way? Or any spells that the solar princess would call evil…?" Aurana asked, now even more nervous as she slowly started to back away from him. Silphen winced slightly as he saw this, hurt that he was no doubt only making the matter worse…

"No, Aurana… I'd never do that. Besides, I only got the book a week ago," he said as he held up the bag he used to carry his spellbook, too scared to take it out in case Celestia could track him that way. Luckily his answer seemed to calm her down as she sighed in relief and stopped backing away.

"Good… well, we're here then," she said, pointing to an abandoned and boarded up hut that looked like it barely held a single bed.

'This is where she's living with her little sister…? No wonder she's sick… the place itself looks like it breeds black mold…!' Silphen thought as he looked at it with a scowl. "Well then… I guess it's about time we got the two of you out of here then, right?" He asked as he began to make his way to the door.

"Wait!" Aurana called out, stopping the wolf in his tracks. "Let me go in first, so she doesn't freak out, ok…?"

Silphen shrugged as he stepped to the side, letting the mare go in first. He heard a hushed argument and caught the words "Shifting" and "Hybrid". Soon after Aurana opened the door and motioned for him to come inside. As he stepped closer, he heard a shout from down the street and an arrow embedded itself into the wooden frame stopping the wolf from entering.

He turned around and saw the group of Solar Guards rushing towards him, and paled slightly. "Aurana, Jade, stay here for a bit… I'll lead the guards away and come back to get you guys, ok…?"

Silphen didn't even bother waiting for a reply as he took off towards them, leaving the two ponies safely inside...

Sam had done it. He had made the solution to so many problems the world had, with this creation he could effortlessly demolish world hunger in ten to twenty years, with this invention, he could unlock the secrets of perpetual motion, solving the energy crisis and baffle scientists. With this item, he was all powerful and could ignore the worst heat imaginable, land safely no matter what, and solve many more problems.

Sam had crafted a bucket.

Was it a special bucket? No, it was made with three bars of iron, which as he created it on the crafting table, the iron seemed to melt around his hands and take the shape he desired, just like with his Diamond tools. Was it magical? Nope, just an ordinary bucket.

When he scooped up water however, it seemed to defy physics, as he poured the water out, and when the bucket was empty, the water stayed there like a block of jello. Only it still flowed infinitely, like some sort of portal to a world of water. It gave him a headache.

But minecraft is as Minecraft does…

Silphen grunted as he was pinned by a pegasus crashing into his back, struggling as he tried to throw them off… only to shatter like a mirror, much to the guards surprise. "IT'S AN ILLUSION!"

Silphen groaned as he got up from the ground from in front of the hut, stretching his back as the Mirror Shatter Switch wore off.

"Fuck that hurt… Still, good for getting away, I guess… Aurana, Jade, you two still in there?" Silphen asked as he knocked on the door.

Aurana opened the door slowly, peeking outside as she checked to see if there were any guards out there with him. "Yeah… How are you back here again? I thought you left."

"Well I did. After setting a spell that would bring me back once I was across the city or got caught. Whichever came first," Silphen explained.

"I… what?" Aurana asked, confused.

"Illusions and teleportation magic," Silphen replied, bringing out a piece of chalk and beginning to draw on the stones in front of the hut, preparing a group teleportation spell.

"Oh. And this?" She asked, pointing with a hoof at the circle he was drawing now.

"Group teleport circle. Single use, so go get Jade and I'll get us out of here," he responded, focusing as best he could on the images his mind was giving him as he drew. Aurana nodded as she ducked her head back inside to get her little sister. When the duo came back outside, Silphen had finished and was trying to figure out which rune was used to power it so he could get the three of them out of the city.

He didn't have long to search as a guard, a single unicorn, rounded the corner and shouted for them to stop. He grabbed the two mares beside him, threw them into the circle and slapped a rune, pushing his magic into it as the circle flared to life, teleporting them away…

Several hours later…

Silphen and Aurana collapsed, having finally found some water that didn't look like a festering pool of disease and plague.

"About… time…" Aurana said as she dragged herself to the running clear life giving liquid.

"Y-yeah…" Silphen said as he set Jade down, who had long ago collapsed and seemed to have a fever. He had to do something about it, but he wasn't sure what… He didn't want to risk pulling his book out in Canterlot in case Celestia could track him due to how close he was, but now he needed to read from it.

As he pulled it out, he shuddered as he felt the weight, both physically and magically as the very air felt like it became supercharged. He flipped to the back, thinking he could find something there… Aurana seemed cautious at first, but when Silphen told her what he wanted to do, she relaxed. Maybe she could trust him… for now…

A figure in dark armor covered head to toe in spikes and a tail that seemed to end in a serrated arrowhead smiled as his newest informant gave their report. 'A dark mage, eh…? Could use that for some tasty destruction, hehehe…'

Chapter 5

The outside of the castle was in even worse shape than the inside. Entire blocks of stone were missing, the walls in several places revealing the contents of the rooms inside. And the decorations had been torn apart seemingly more by wild monsters than the elements.

Sam wasn’t worried about that though, he knew he could rebuild all of it. First however, there was a path leading from the castle to a rickety rope bridge. He tested the ropes by putting pressure on them, they held, and he crossed safely. The forest was alive, all sorts of sounds of creatures washed over him.

As he walked along, he occasionally swung his Diamond axe at a tree a few times, the entire thing disintegrating into his inventory. He called the aforementioned screen up. So far, he had collected at least three stacks of what was called wildwood. As far as the mysterious memories and blueprints in his head said, this wood could be used for anything normal oak could be used for.

The sound of hooves trotting down the path made him look away from his inventory. He didn’t know what it was, but if it was a monster, he would make sure all of its drops were his. He quickly leapt up towards a tree next to him, the bottom of his shoes stuck into the bark before he pushed off, grabbing at a low hanging branch before pulling himself up.

One thing he had found while mining and fighting the wooden wolves was that he had three new upgrades on this server. He was super strong, he was agile as a bat, and his balance was impeccable. So much so, that he could stand on a ledge by the tips of his toes and plank over thin air.

The creature looked like a smaller zebra, only more adorable. The stripes looked more like tribal markings than an actual evolutionary advantage. On the equines flank was a symbol like a spiraling sun. The mohawk on it would be the most curious thing, if not for the golden jewelry like the wristband around one leg, or the neck rings, or even the hooped earring.

He stood still and held his breath high up in the tree, which he could do for a solid twenty minutes. The Equine scratched the dirt road, scanning the treeline. Did the equine see him? He was fairly far away from his spawning point, if it proved to be something beyond his capacity to fight at the moment he’d be spending another two hours getting back.

“Ah, there are the needed berries,” His mind stopped as the equine talked, we’re they another player in this strange minecraft game he had found himself in? Or was it merely a delusion of his lonely mind, already breaking from madness? “The cure to a lot of aching bellies.”

He was already standing still, but he made sure that no part of him was in motion as the mini zebra plucked berries from a bush at the base of his tree. It somehow used its hooves to pick each berry before placing them in a basket he had only noticed now that he could see the left side of the equine.

As the zebra turned away, Sam let out a sigh of relief, not seeing the zebra’s ear twitch. He wasn’t exactly ready to become social just yet, but this proved to him that he needed to start protecting his castle from griefers. From the tops of the trees he had a good vantage point to climb higher.

When the thick branches ended, he hopped onto thin ones, little more than twigs, and like some martial arts master he barely bent them as he walked along them. Sam didn’t like thinking about where real physics ended and minecraft began.

Where he knew Minecraft was, was when he began stacking blocks of stone on top of the aforementioned twigs. They stayed there, perfect cubes in some middle finger to the laws of physics and all that was normal. Placing blocks from his inventory was pretty simple, he just looked where he wanted it, pantomimed putting a block down with either hand, and the block was placed. Of course he had to have it highlighted in his hotbar.

Once he was high above the trees, he saw for miles in every direction. The path he was heading on, which his compass indicated was north, was a colorful town, waterfall and all. Probably host to a few hundred or so creatures like the zebra earlier.

To the west the trees seemed to thin out and the ground turned into the Murky green he associated with a swamp. While east sent him either to some plains or a mountain ridge depending how far south he went.

Of course, due a bit south by southeast was the castle he had claimed as his own.

He jumped off the pillar he had made, sliding gently down the vertical surface. Setting off towards the swampy west as he ran from branch to branch.

The swamp was quite oppressive, the muck water wasn’t that deep, as he could reach the surface with one stroke. Thankfully he could hold his breath for around ten minutes, allowing him to search for and collect slime. Turns out sentient oozes were’t the source here, but piles of mucus-like material along the swamp floor.

He collected as much as he felt like with a shovel, which netted him an entire stack of slimeballs. After which he groaned as he was staring at the ragged cloth of his bed. Apparently he found out what made those mucus piles, some sort of Hydra, and his diamond armor did jack squat against its attacks, as even with it, each bite dealt four hearts, and with only ten to go around, and four heads, he was deader than deadwood.

Regardless, He got to work. For three tireless days he worked on crafting. The first thing he started was automating everything. From farms, despite his lack of hunger, as he didn’t even have a hunger bar, to mining drills that would mine by themselves. This was where he found out someone screwed with ore-gen even more by having the generation set in reverse. He found diamonds and such at the highest levels, followed by gold and redstone, till several hundred meters below the earth, he found an abundance of iron and copper.

With that, he began working on magic and personal armor. He found some books on magic in a library, which as it turned out, despite having words in them, counted for any recipe calling for a book. Regardless, the books talked about how every creature had their own source of magic, how they manipulated it, blah blah blah. Well, the instructions in his head told him that he could just take magic from the environment, as everything bled off this kind of raw magic. He tried the book’s way, but he felt absolutely nothing, no force, no nothin, so he went about building whatever this new mystical building sense taught him to.

Sam then began experimenting with other things afterwards, rituals that summoned the undead which were then used for their souls, which he was confused as they were all zombie or skeleton equines. Rituals to dark and forgotten gods fueled by sacrifice (he didn’t have any animals to slaughter, so he just killed himself repeatedly), Even Blood magic was not exempt from his experimentation, although he abandoned that soon after finding juggling four branches of magic at once was time consuming.

By the time he left the castle once more, he had begun collecting all the parts necessary for building a suit of Power Armor, he also had a spellbook, which while allowing him to create an almost infinite list of spell combinations from runes, only allowed ten spells to be saved and cast at a time. When he made the spellbook, a new bar on his hud was unlocked, a mana bar. Apparently his minecraft system was pulling in wild magic to refill it, which the library told him was impossible. Then again, so was a vertical line of perfect square cubes atop leaves.

He had decided to head north towards the town now that he could finally defend himself. It would either be overrun with monsters, he hoped vampires, something in his head told him that’d be a really great idea, or players who could trade with him. Maybe even villagers who he could exploit with his twenty stacks of emerald in his backpack he had made.

Well, that is until he saw a white Pegacorn on the other side of the rope bridge.

"We need to speak, outsider. I shall ignore your transgressions this time as you clearly are not interested in my ponies, but if you approach a city or village, I will strike you down," she said, glaring at him. "I need you to hunt a fellow dark mage."

Author's Note

In case it wasn't obvious, we're switching back and forth between the two for the first few chapters, at least until the characters meet up for the first time.

Chapter 6 (C/O)

Silphen, once morning had risen again, set about trying to decipher the strange texts in the back of his book. He picked out the words "Displaced" and "Token", but couldn't figure out what they meant. He sighed and flipped his book over and opened it again, facepalming when he saw the words "Healing Touch" in green at the top of the page.

"Why did it have to be so damn simple…?" He groaned out before reading how to do the spell. After a few minutes, he had managed to heal Jade, but only just barely.

He sighed and flipped back to the Token spell again. He hums thoughtfully as he reads what he can understand, grunting as he picked up a few pieces of grass, fiddling with them idly as he read.

"'Put some of your energy into it…?' Weird but…" he cleared his throat and said in a calm voice, "In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"

He chuckled a little as he looked down at the little grass sigil he wove, only to stare in surprise as a portal opened up and sucked the Token he had made into it. "What the hell!?!"

"Language!" Aurana snapped at him from the earthen hut nearby.

"Erm… Right… sorry…" he said, cowering slightly. "Well, that was… something."

Silphen shook his head as he turned back to his spellbook, flipping back once more to the front, skipping a few pages as he tried to find a better healing spell. He growled in frustration after a few minutes and slammed the book closed, shoving it back in his bag before getting up. He turned to the river they had followed for the majority of the last couple days, and saw Aurana already heading out to take a bath, bringing a rosy color to his cheeks despite himself. He'd been trying to properly heal Jade the whole time they've been running, clearly mispronouncing something in the spell since it wasn't taking properly and was only able to make her better for about a day or so before she needed to be healed again. He knew he had to either find a stronger spell, or figure out what was wrong. Either with his pronunciation or with her specifically.

"Hey, Jade? Do you know anypony by the name Chrysalis?" He asked her, causing the filly, who had just woken up, to freeze.

"I don't know who that changeling is. I'm not a changeling, not at all. Totally not a half breed," she said, trying her best to lie and failing horribly, causing Silphen to chuckle as he sat down beside her.

"Don't worry, Jade… I won't tell anyone, ok? You can trust me," he said while watching Aurana swim in the river with a smile. He almost envied her, since the deepest part of the river only came up to his waist, and couldn't really swim in it like she could due to it.

Jade shuffled nervously, glancing at him for a few minutes before finally gathering her courage. "H-how did you know…?"

"Hmm?" Silphen asked, only partly paying attention to her.

"How did you know I was a half breed…?" She asked again, looking up at him in fear.

"I heard you and your sister's conversation when we first met. So I decided to try and take a guess as to how much you knew," Silphen replied as he turned back to the little filly with a faint smile on his muzzle.

A few hours later they finally saw the walls of a village. Silphen was wary, believing it to be a bandit camp, but Aurana ignored his concerns saying, "If they are bandits, you can just get us out again, right? Besides, those are ponies on the walls, and these woods have a few Timberwolves in them. They're probably up there to keep watch!"

After that, Silphen, rather reluctantly, agreed to spend the night in the village. "At least we can sleep on actual beds and get some supplies…"

"And food," Jade says, poking him with her horn.

"Heh. That's what I meant by-"

"Not that part. We can get some actual food for you, Silphen," she said as she cut him off. "Think I haven't noticed the way you try to catch rabbits when my sister has been swimming each morning?"

"I… what…? But you've been asleep in the huts!" Silphen countered, clearly confused by this development.

"Duh… you think that if I'm a halfbreed I can't fully shapeshift? I've been that bunny, Silphen, so I know you eat meat. Or you're at least omnivorous," Jade said quietly, now that they were getting closer to the gate.

He sighs and nods his head briefly. "Yeah… ok, I admit, I'm omnivorous. Or at least, I was when I left my world. Not sure I still am, but I haven't really been sick from eating anything we've had yet. Though I think you've been getting faster, haven't you…?"

"No… You've been getting slower, Silphen… by a lot… Are you sure you don't need to eat meat?" Jade asked him, clearly concerned for his health. But as Silphen went to tell her that he'd be fine, his stomach growled loudly, causing him to snap his mouth shut and look away, a faint blush of embarrassment on his face. Jade simply giggled and shook her head before rushing to catch up to her sister.

"Damned filly knows me better than I do…" Silphen said as he took a few long strides to catch them both and pull them up into his arms.

Unbeknownst to them, the guards were watching the trio, making sure they would know where they were at all times. After all, their boss wanted that mage for himself, and nothing would stop him from getting him. Not even a simple thing like foalnapping.

They watched as the mage and the mare argued for a few seconds before agreeing with him and the duo set about trying to find ways to help around the village. They watched as one of the more… idiotic villagers tried to attack them to drive them out of the camp, only for the mage to slam him into a wall and, supposedly, growl a warning that he would kill him if he tried again. Several hours later, and the solar whorse's sun started to go down, and the two that were working gathered the bits they had made and purchased a room and about a week's worth of supplies for the three of them.

The guards, who had changed shifts twice now, smirked darkly as they watched…

Silphen closed the door behind him, tossing his bag onto the small bed that took up most of the room. Sitting down on the edge, he double checked the bag’s contents, finding everything still inside. Satisfied, he put it onto the floor next to him, and laid back into the bed…

There was a sudden rush of air as he found himself on the ground, a large wall of fur rushing past him as he heard a woman cursing underneath him.

“Get off me you mangy mutt!”

"Fucking hell, what!?" Silphen cried out as he rolled over, trying to get off the female voice beneath him. When he looked over he saw the woman jump to her feet, tattered red robe fluttering in the wind. Her face was almost completely covered, some kind of toothy mask covering her face. In fact, he could only see a single silver eye glaring at him. The next thing he noticed was the archaic-looking pistol in her gloved hand, which was pointed unsteadily at him, her breath ragged. This, understandably, made him put his hands up in fear, before he tackled her once more as the other wolf sailed over them, blotting out the moonlight briefly. "Please don't kill me…"

“You do that again, and I will.” The woman growled, raising her weapon and firing as the giant Wolf attempted to lunge at them, a spray of pellets keeping it at bay as blood seeped from the fresh holes in its hide. “Listen, runt. You better use your powers and help me kill this thing, or we’re both wolf food. Especially if you keep pinning me to the damn floor!”

Silphen rolled off her again and got up, clearly confused as to what he could do against something like this beast. "And what do you expect me to do? Growl at it? I don't exactly have a weapon here, and I'm still new to fucking casting my spells! Fuck, this had better be a bad fucking nightmare…" The woman reloaded her weapon as she stood, her eye turning to look at him incredulously.

“Aren’t you some kind of Lantern?!” She asked as the wolf paced around them, growling angrily. “Bring out the fancy suit, make some magic sword or something, and do what you were summoned for!” She pulled out a long, well-used hand scythe from underneath her tattered hood and black garments, it’s blade still as sharp as the day it was made, before rushing the beast. “I’ll buy you some time!”

Silphen groaned as he pulled out his spellbook, hurriedly searching for something he could use as the beast roared in pain. He stopped when he came across the elemental magic section, quickly recognizing it as being written in Latin, a language he had been studying since he was little.

"Colligunt animae gelidae, morsus laminae!" He called out, summoning a blade of ice that seemed to give off a frosty mist that chilled his bones as he held it.

The red-hooded woman only barely landed on her feet next to him, her curved blade now nicely lodged in the side of the wolf’s neck as she pulled out another one. She glanced at his sword questioningly, having to turn her whole head to see him. “That isn't what I meant, but it’ll work,” she said, raising her pistol as the wolf growled at them, eyes burning with bestial hate. “Hope you’re ready, this thing heals quickly. Need to gut it faster.”

"Right… Little warning, not a Lantern," Silphen said in turn, preparing to slice it with the blade. As he charged at it, he got backhanded into the tree behind the Little Red Riding Hood cosplayer. He immediately got up and charged at it again. And again… and again…

“Clearly.” She said as he crashed backwards again, “Very stubborn though.” She raised her weapons, and seemed to simply vanish, a flurry of thorny vines surrounded by a gust of black flower petals flying through the air and wrapping around the surprised beast, thorns digging into its fur as she solidified above it, pistol already firing a slug as she descended. The wolf managed to avoid a fatal wound as the slug dug into its shoulder instead of its neck due to its struggling, but the gleaming blade in her hand struck true.

“Now, wolfboy! While it’s occupied!” She shouted.

Silphen grunted, rolling off the destroyed trunk of the tree as he charged once more, stabbing it in the gut. As he watched, the ice spread out from where the blade was stuck inside the other wolf, slowly turning it into an ice statue. "What…? W-well that's… something…" he heard a thud as the red-hooded woman fell to the ground, breathing hard.

“Yeah… guess it is…” She grunted, wincing as her pistol brushed up against her leg. Three long cuts arced across her thigh, leaking blood into the grass. “Agh… you wouldn’t happen to know any healing magic, would you?”

"Erm… sort of? Not sure how well it would work though, since I'm still trying to heal a pony back in the waking world…" Silphen said as he placed his paw-like hands near her leg, where she was hurt. "Dame… Dame tus heridas y toma mi salud, Sacrificando ¡Sana!" He shouted as he winced in pain, the wound disappearing from her leg, only to appear on his own leg as he did.

“I said heal me, not take my damn wound.” She growled, pulling herself to her feet and glancing at the wolf. “We’ve still got a hydra to kill, and all that’ll do is drag you down when we do.”

"Well I'm sorry! I've been trying to use this damn spell to heal a mare's little sister, but it hasn't been working! How was I supposed to know that it was going to do that?" Silphen snapped at her as he pulled out his spellbook. "Fuck, I wish this wasn't in Spanish. I think… Maybe it is something else…?"

“I’m of little help there.” She shrugged, dislodging her first blade from the sculpture. “At most, I can ask if my clients care about accidental casualties or not, and can only really understand yes or no.” She looked down at him. “Why’d you get a spellbook you can’t even read?”

"I can read it! Somewhat… There's some stuff that I can't actually understand, mostly because it's a weird language… Think I found it!" He cleared his throat, and set his hand on his thigh. "¡Rep… Repara la carne y repara los huesos, agarre de la salud!" A faint glow emanated from his hand and he sighed in relief as the wound closed.

“Well looks like that one worked,” She nodded, before turning and walking away. “Come on, the cave is about a mile from here and I’d rather kill that thing before it goes on another rampage through the client’s town.”

"Right. Um… Since this clearly isn't a dream… Where the hell am I?" Silphen asks, putting his spellbook back.

“My world.” She said, as if that explained everything. “I was in a bit of a tight situation, so I summoned you.” She checked her pistol as she moved through the leafless trees at a swift pace. “You can call me Red-Hooded Mercenary, or just Red. Your name?”

"Um… My human name, or the name of the guy I'm cosplaying as?" He asked in return, still clearly confused as they went.

“Whichever you prefer.” Red shrugged, ducking under a low hanging branch. “Haven’t met someone who actually differentiates between them anymore. Always just… one or the other.”

"What do you mean by that…? I… whatever, not like it's that important anyway… I guess… Silphen. I think Silphen would work for now. At least until I figure out how to get back home and out of this crazy Isekai like place," Silphen said as he barely avoided getting smacked in the face by the branch. Only to run right into another behind the tree as he did. "Ow…"

The mercenary stopped, turning to look at him quizzically. Somehow the combination of her hood and face mask completely obscured almost all of her face, except a circle of scarred flesh around her eye. “You’re… new, aren’t you? Like, you only recently turned into this.” She gestured to Sliphen’s fur-covered body.

Silphen rubbed his muzzle and nodded, still thoroughly confused. "Yeah…? I think… Why? Does it matter?" He then flicked the tree branch, half expecting it to smack him again.

“Gah, so you’re a newbie…” she groaned, holding the side of her head. “Look kid, you’re what’s called a Displaced now. You bought some junk from a shady vendor, or made some kind of deal with someone, and ended up in talking ponyland, right?”

"Yeah… Bought my book to complete the cosplay I was doing. Was of a Soft Metal Furred Wolf from a roleplay I did with some buddies on Dis-“ he found the barrel of her gun closing his mouth for him.

“I don’t need the full backstory, wolfie.” She pulled the gun back after a moment, holstering it on her hip. “Welcome to the hell that is the Multiverse, kid. Right now, you’re in what’s left of my Equestria, and you’ll be able to return to yours once we’re finished here.” She gave him another look. “We are all part of a bunch of different universes, with most of us sent here by that Merchant you met. Dunno what his deal is. You following so far?”

Silphen nodded, eyes scanning the treetops. After all, nobody ever looked up in the movies, and they almost always died…

Red casually whipped her pistol back out, briefly turning to the right as she shredded the body of a timberwolf about to leap from a nearby bush. “Damned vermin are everywhere these days. Usually hunt in packs of five or more.” She reloaded, giving Silphen a pointed look as more of the animated beasts emerged. “You got anything smaller than that ice stick? Or do I have to do all the work here?”

"I think I can create some armor! O-one second!" Silphen quickly flipped back to the Elemental Magic section. "Esto mihi custos aeternus, armatura sordium ficta!" He yelled at the book as the earth around them rolled and flowed towards him, creating armor around his body as one of the wooden wolves tackled him to the ground. "Motherfucking…!"

It shattered into pieces as her pistol barked again, and he saw her hand scythe decapitate a second that had been lunging for her throat, it’s corpse toppling to the ground before being crushed underfoot by her boot. “Either punch the wretched things or get back!”

Silphen growled as he got up and grabbed the nearest one and plunged his fist into its chest. When he pulled back he was surprised to be holding a green orb, but rolled with it. "Kali-ma… Kali-ma!" He shouted, shaking his fist that held the orb at another in an attempt to scare it off.

Before it could run, Red’s scythe ripped through its chest cavity, and Silphen turned to see Red had thrown the blade while another of the wolves died under her. “Those are their cores. Dunno how these vermin work in your world, but mine die when you destroy them!” She pulled out a small dagger from her robe, ducking down as yet another wolf leapt at her. As it passed over, she thrust upwards, burying the dagger squarely in its chest and letting it tumble to the ground, before disintegrating.

The fighting continued for a few more minutes, timberwolves coming out of the shadows by the dozen in a pitiful attempt to skewer the two in their teeth. By the end of it, the ground was littered with twigs, branches, and green wood cores.

"So…." Silphen started, panting heavily. "Mind letting… me take… the cores…?" He let out a groan as he stood up straight. "Fuck, this sucks…"

“Sure, I don’t mind.” Red shrugged. “The things are hardly worth a bit here, but they might be useful.” She gestured up to the mountain looming above them. “We’re headed about a fourth of the way up there. There’ll be a hydra squatting in a cave, and we have to kill it. It’s a younger one, so at most it’ll be worth a couple hundred bits.” She looked back at Silphen. “Assist me, and we’ll split it fifty-fifty. Deal?”

His eyes widened and he nodded, briefly forgetting about the cores before he almost tripped over one. "Deal! With any luck, it'll be a fairly easy fight, yeah?"

“Like hell.” Red scoffed, resuming her walk and breaking several twigs as she did. “If killing a hydra was easy, I wouldn’t have been hired to kill it in the first place. The client’s people just don’t think it’s worth as much as an adult one.”

Silphen whimpered faintly as his ears folded back. He couldn't die here, he still had to heal Jade. Instead, he opened his spellbook again and cast the spell that created the Ice Blade again. "If I'm reading this right… a single cut should doom it to a slow death… And if it would kill it… I think there's a mistranslation, but it says it'll trap the soul to be prepared for… consumption or… golem creation?"

“Good, then I’ll make an opening for you.” Red replied, double checking that she reloaded her gun. “Just stay back until then, and watch out for the acid. Rows one to five are a splash zone, after all.”

Silphen blinked, looking up to her back as he recognized the poor joke she had made. "Really…? Sea World…?" He just sighed, a small smile on his muzzle beneath his dirt armor, and got ready with her, reading his book as he followed. "I'll dash in when you give the signal."

“No one ever finds my jokes funny.” Red groaned as they reached the base of the mountain, wilted grass turning to raised rock. “By the way… how the hell did you make a Token, when you clearly haven’t met another Displaced before?”

"It's in the back of the book, see?" Silphen says, flipping to the end of the spellbook and turning it so she could see the vaguely described process of making a Token. "Didn't realize what it was, because it's so damn vague and such a weird fucking language…"

“Huh. My Displacer didn’t leave me with anything but my gear, the greedy bastard.” Red grumbled, looking over the book. “The Token is what allowed me to summon you.” She pulled out a small, familiar grass sigil. “Though I hope that book of yours knows how to change the message, or you’re gonna meet a lot of somewhat disappointed Displaced."

"I… Don't think so. But I can imagine it being even funnier than the idea of being confused for a werewolf or a Diamond Dog. Plus, I can make them think about it too. Because why wouldn't a proper GL not send a Construct or a Battery for their Token?" Silphen asked in return.

“I guess,” Red shrugged, putting the sigil away before tossing Silphen a rolled up paper. “Here’s my Token. Just point it at someone you want me to kill and agree to the price. Even a picture will work.” She explained as she climbed her way over a small cliff.

"Right… Do you know if… No, you probably wouldn't…" Silphen hummed as he checked his book, smiling as he cast a spell to simply raise the ground around him to the top of the cliff. "Magic does solve everything."

“I’ve been living in this hellhole for twenty years now, kid.” Red spoke up as they spotted the lip of a cave at the top of another cliff face. “I’ve seen a lotta shit in that time, so it’s possible I’d know about what you want to ask.” She pointed to the cave entrance. “Just up there.”

Silphen nodded, gazing up at it with a touch of fear… and resolve. He had to get back to Aurana, no matter what. "Right… So the plan is for you to distract, then I stab it in… what, the heart? I have a spell that would create a wall of fire that we could try and drive it towards…" He didn't seem to want to try and ask her a question about his own Equestria, since she likely wouldn't know.

“Since half the stuff in your book is unreadable, we’ll stick with my approach.” Red replied, reaching underneath her cloak and withdrawing a somewhat familiar metal cylinder. “Once I go in and get it’s attention, I’ll lure it out and drop this smoke grenade. Get that sword ready, put as much power as you can into it, and when I give the signal, stab it in the belly. That should be the easiest spot to hit for a novice fighter.”

"Right… Charge underneath a giant multi headed dragon that can't breathe fire or fly…" Silphen closed his eyes, trying to keep his nerves under control.

“Yep. Welcome to the life of a Displaced, kid.” Red nodded, giving him a brief pat on the back before leaping up the cliffside. “Just don’t be stupid and shout out some battlecry and you’ll be fine. You really don’t want to get its attention.” Hanging from the edge, she motioned with her free hand for him to get up to her.

Silphen did so, not using the spell this time as he felt tired. More tired than he thought he should've been. "You see it?" He whispered to her once he got up there.

“Yup.” Red replied, pulling herself over the cliffside. “A few yards into the cave. Looks like the info was good; this one’s only the size of a tank. Should only be able to spit a small amount of acid.” She pulled out her hand scythe, eyeing the beast warily. It had its back to them, it’s heads bobbing up and down with the sickening sound of torn flesh. “Guess we caught it while it was feeding…”

Silphen gagged a little, but managed to hold his lunch back. "Wh-what the hell is that stench…? Is it just the body, or how a hydra smells…?" He covered his nose with a hand, trying to block the smell.

“Both.” Red replied, and Silphen wished he had her mask on. “Keep that sword ready. I can probably cut off a head before it realizes what’s happening…” Before he could respond, she ran forward, dropping the smoke grenade behind her with its pin pulled. She pulled out a second hand scythe, and dispersed into that familiar wave of petals and vines. She rushed up and over the beast as it raised its heads slightly, likely hearing the odd sound of vines creaking.

She reformed above it, kicking off the ceiling and putting both blades before her. The blades cut clean through its green scales, biting into flesh before she ripped them out. She swung rapidly as the creature began to screech, cutting a deep, consistent gouge into its flesh before dropping to the side, putting away a blade and pulling out her pistol as she barely avoided losing an arm as one of the heads snapped at her. She fired point blank into its eye, the force behind the blast shoving her, and her blade, down its neck be several inches, her blade digging into its bone before she hopped back.

“Now he’s pissed!” Red cackled, reloading as its heads turned along with the body, with the wounded one hanging lifeless around the belly. Smoke billowed behind her, concealing Silphen. “Come on, ya big, ugly lizard! Let’s dance!” She rushed it as it hissed angrily, globs of acidic bile billowing from the other four heads that she ducked out of the way of with surprising speed.

Silphen took the smokescreen as his cue and rushed in, low and fast, with his ice blade to the side with the edge pointed downward for safety. He heard the globs of acid before he saw them, dodging to the side just in time. He grunted and closed his eyes, focusing more on his hearing than his sight, since it wouldn't help him right then. He took a deep breath as he heard the hydra step nearby, and lashed out, feeling the blade catch and let go. He quickly summoned a second blade and kept running underneath it, out to the other side of the smoke…

And nearly collided with Red, who only barely leapt out of the way. “Watch it!” She yelled, pulling out a second pistol and firing behind her as the ice began to spread. The sudden propulsion sent her flying towards the beast, who’s heads had turned when Silphen had stabbed it. She buried her blade deep into its body, pulling down on the blade before stowing her pistol. Instead, she pulled out another cylindrical device, this one purple in color, and stuffed it into the foul-smelling wound. She kicked off the beast and dislodged her blade from it, four heads bashing into each other and rushing down the place she had just been.

As she landed a few feet away from Silphen, the grenade detonated in a flash of light, a chunk of its torso vanishing in a burst of blue energy as the Hydra roared in agony.

“Now!” Red yelled, and Silphen rushed in, leaping into where the hole was and screamed as he channeled all the rage he'd been bottling up into the strike. He struck true and ice practically exploded out from the second blade, having pierced it's true brain, located just above the heart.

He sobbed slightly as he knew that, no matter how much he hated himself for being tricked, how much he hated Celestia for trying to kill him, or how much he hated the knowledge that he was never going to get back home, he knew he wouldn't have changed it.

Red gave him a few minutes to himself, reloading her pistols and checking the state of her blades, before eventually approaching him. “Hey, we ought to get going. We’ve got payment to receive, after all.” She glanced at the one hydra head she had killed, it having fallen off when the plasma grenade detonated. While she let Silphen get himself together, she removed a scale from it. She had already recovered a piece from the wolf earlier, so she had everything she needed for proof. “You ready to head out?”

He nodded, standing up and looking at her as the armor melted off of him. "Indeed, Miss Red. Shall we?" He motioned for the exit, touching the ice statue of the hydra, causing it to vanish into… somewhere.

Red’s pistol was out in a flash, her single eye narrowed. “Not until you leave his body, whoever you are.” She growled. “I’ve dealt with my fair share of possessed allies, and you are definitely not the kid.”

Silphen smirked. "Then you're aiming your… primitive weapon at the wrong half, child. Ashton, the other one, is who stole my body. Not the other way around."

“Well, I’d say you should let him keep it.” Red replied, her pistol unwavering, “The kid is definitely more polite than you are. Doubt he had a choice, anyway.”

"And you believe we, who must suffer in silence as someone else pilots our body, have a say in this treatment? Miss Red, I will not argue with you. I am heartless. For a similar reason as you, no doubt, but you would not be capable of carrying my body back to town. Malnourished or not, I still weigh several kilo," he explained, showing off the silver gleam in his fur.

“…tch, fine.” She lowered her pistol a fraction. “You will only stay for as long as it takes to get back to town, and to get paid.” Red did not holster her weapon. “I'm not interested in wasting bullets on you, but if you try anything… well, I’ve already seen what this baby does at close range.”

He chuckled as he nodded. "Very well then. Miss Red, I thank you for protecting my… other half, if you will. I hope, during our next meeting, things are different." He then bowed slightly before following her back to town.

Silphen woke to find himself leaning against a wall formed of wooden poles, their tops shaved until they ended in a lethal point for any would-be trespassers. He looked around in confusion before getting off of the wall. "How did I…?"

He looked around a bit more before calling out to a passerby, briefly forgetting he wasn't on Earth due to them being humans. "Hey, how did I get here? Was just stabbing a hydra a second ago…" He trailed off as he realized how crazy he must sound to them as the words left his mouth.

“Oh, you came in with Little Red.” The young man replied, raising an eyebrow. “She said you two got rid of the Hydra that attacked our town, ye?” He shook his head as he resumed walking. “Small mercies like that are real appreciated.”

He nodded dumbly, leaning back against the wall and staring off into the distance as the realization sunk in. She had to have carried him here… Meaning she was far stronger than she looked. 'She could tear my arm off without a thought…' he thought to himself.

“Ah, good, you’re awake.” A familiar voice called out, causing him to jump as he turned to see Red walking up to him, twin bags jingling in her hands as she approached. “You should really look into an exorcist, you know.” She tossed him the slightly smaller bag, and he was surprised at its weight. “A little extra for the assistance with the wolf.”

Silphen looked back up at her, a look of shock on his face. "But… No. I can't accept that. Take the extra coins, Red. I don't need that much," he said as he stood up again, having slid down the wall in his daze.

“I still took the bigger bag.” Red replied, “And you dealt the final blow to the Wolf. The extra coin is yours, and if I have to say it again then I’d be happy to take both bags. It was my job originally.”

Silphen winced, his ears folded back and his tail curling around his leg as he backed off. "O-ok… I just feel bad for disappointing you when you first… summoned me? Right?"

“Shouldn’t affect your cut of the profits.” Red replied. “It’s about time I send you home then.”

He nodded and took a small step back, not sure how this worked still.

“Normally, in order to send someone back to their universe, it’s just…” She cleared her throat slightly. “Your contract is complete.”

As she said that, his eyes clouded over and he mumbled something as a portal opened beneath him and took him back to his own world.

When he opened his eyes, he realized that it was still night in the room. He knew he wasn't gone for a full day, but what else could it mean? Just then Aurana opened the door and smiled at him. "Hey. Mind healing Jade a little? She can't get to sleep…"

Silphen stared for a moment… then nodded as he got off the bed and followed her to Jade's room. A quick spell later and she was able to rest for the night, leaving him even more confused than before...

Author's Note

Red is owned by this amazing person! Currently awaiting a proper story for them, but they are a fully fleshed out character, so please go give Warmaster some love!

Chapter 7 (NSFW)

Sam stared at the white pegacorn across the bridge. The horse-like creature stood as tall as him, not counting the large spiraling horn with a tip sharp enough to gore somebody. He had to admit, her golden armor looked pretty nice though, with hoof guards in the shape of bursting flames, she also had a golden peytral with a purple gem in it’s center around her barrel. Atop her head was a thick tiara with the same type of gem as her petral embedded in the center. He tried to smile disarmingly, apparently he was seen as being from some opposing faction.

“While I know I'm handsome, fortunately, it has nothing to do with the dark arts.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and flared her wings, lowering her voice dangerously as she said, "Attempt to deceive me at your own peril, dark mage. I can sense the foul stench of soul magic on you."

Sam was confused, soul magic? He wasn’t carrying any souls on him, and neither did he have any soulbound objects on his person. He sighed, dropping the polite smile he had on his face, already he was tired of dealing with people after thirty seconds of conversation.

“Look, it’s probably just a misunderstand-” Sam had to leap backwards as the horse blasted the dirt near his foot. Her glare started to become dangerous as her horn was lit up.

"Speak truthfully. Or die a mutt."

“Okay! First of all, who even are you!? Second, you’ll have to threaten something far worse than death, that’s just cliche.” Sam threw his hands in the air exasperated. He thought about just turning to head back to his castle, but thought better of it.

She growled a little but stood down, folding her wings and releasing her mana back into her pool, believing he meant that his wounds would be transferred to a hostage or something. "Fine. I am Princess Celestia, one of the two diarchs of Equestria. And that castle you have perverted was once mine and my sisters."

“Shit… Sorry, didn’t know it was already claimed. I apologize, but I’ve already massively remodeled it.” Sam felt worried. Obviously being able to claim the title of princess, either they were an influential player, or an admin. Regardless, he had to do something to mend this, he really didn’t have a lot that more advanced players wouldn’t already have… it was worth a shot anyways. “Alright… look, I’ve been collecting a lot of stuff, why don’t we just sit down for tea and cake or something, and work something out… I really don’t want to have to move.”

Celestia blinked in surprise. 'He has cake? This far away from civilization…?' "You have cake?" Seemed like Sam had just found her one weakness. The thing she enjoyed more than killing dark magic users… was cake.

“Uh… yes?” He had one cake… One super hard to make cake, but it was cake… And his heart ached as he said that word.

She was in his face in an instant, her eyes filled with a different desire. But for some reason he didn't feel any safer… "Where."

He gulped. Immortal he may be, but seeing something that large move so fast was still worrying. He gestured back the way he came, back to the castle he had, in her own words, perverted.

She looked back at the castle with a glare. Then back to him with longing… and decided that purging the dark magic could wait for a few slices of cake. "... Fine. But this had better be the best cake I've ever had, or I will find a way to kill you."

“I damn hope so too…” He muttered under his breath before turning away from Celestia and leading her into the castle. As the trees thinned, he basked in what he had built in such a short time. No longer did the castle look like a remnant of 15th century europe, instead as they stepped close, tall and wide double doors opened on their own, leading to a courtyard that looked more in place in civilization than a castle in the middle of a wild forest. Celestia passed in the doorway, her horn lit as she tried to find out what kind of magic it was using… only to be surprised by the extreme lack of it. Almost as if it actively repelled latent magic from the air, but didn't care about the magic that she was actively using.

The fountain was fixed and improved, letting water infinitely drizzle down the smooth white stone it was made of. Celestia tried to figure out the water, believing it to be magical in nature, but when it wasn't, her mind tried to deny it, making her turn to other things in the courtyard. The fountain had several motifs of anvils and hammers, a personal touch on his part with a chisel. The fountain bisected a cobbled path that they walked on, and the other side of the path was blocked by rows of hedges, truly just leaves he cut and placed down, but he liked to imagine. They were built into fantastical creatures, one of which was a dragon breathing fire down onto a group of other humans, causing Celestia to pause briefly as she gazed upon it. 'Perhaps he isn't as different from me as I thought… Is he coated in that taint because of how they escaped…?'

The doors to the throne room were even larger than the ones to the courtyard but they opened up all the same, with a slow lurching movement, the throne room was revealed. He had taken down all the motifs and decorations of the night and day, Instead, he replaced it with entire illustrations of galaxies and illustrations of humans, or at least his version of minecraftian humans, fighting off the encroaching horde of minecraft mobs with nothing but torches and iron gear. Celestia gazed upon it all with a clear look of sorrow and pity. She didn't try to hide it when he would look back to see her looking away in shame.

'Maybe I should try to… No! That was how I lost HIM and how I almost lost Luna! Never again!' Celestia thought to herself before taking a deep breath to fix her resolve. He would either kneel, or be forever barred from their lands.

“Right… Just a minute. Minxie!” He shouted out the name after realizing that they actually had no place to dine. He barely required food, and remodeling this part of the castle had already eaten into most of his freetime when he wasn’t exploring or crafting machines with purpose. Soon, a small chibi witch riding a floating broom entered from a side door. If she had stood on the ground, she would barely reach his waist.

“Yes master Sam?” She spoke in a high pitched voice. Minxie was a Wixie, a magical race of familiars who serve their master in all aspects of management, from crafting to potion making.

“Please get me my standard building supplies, wildwood if you would.” Minxie nodded as she left the room.

"A familiar?" Celestia asked once the little creature had left. She felt an immense amount of mana in it, but couldn't quite decipher the summoning method.

“One of them, the rest are busy making sure production stays on track, but Minxie has proven herself reliable as my personal assistant.” Sam nodded. He was proud of what he had accomplished so far, and these fae were so helpful. A faint hum filled the air as Celestia lit her horn again.

"Production…?" She asked darkly, clearly preparing to kill him again.

“Metal smelting, reagent crafting, etc.” He said unconcerned.

She snorted and stood down again. "What kind of reagents? Because that will determine if I turn this whole place to slag or not, mortal."

“You know, Focuses, Source Gems, Pedestals-”

Celestia snorted as she stomped her hoof slightly. "Source gems? Ha! There's not a single creature in the world that can- what is that?" Her attention and rant cut off as Sam pulled out a gem that pulsed with an insane amount of pure mana from somewhere when she was distracted.

“Want one as a souvenir?” He asked, holding the purple gem out to her. He figured she probably already mined a lot of these, but she was looking at it so possessively.

She quickly ran through several possibilities, and only one was a good one. She had spoken with her student before flying over, so she wasn't looking at her soul, she knew that much. But for a Source, the very core of how a Unicorn used their magic, to be separated from them… She reached out with her magic to grasp the orb, recoiling as her own Source was flooded by the pure magic inside of it. "F-fuck…"…

“You uh… okay… your majesty?” He added on quickly to the end. He never had that reaction when holding one of them… but then again, he also didn’t know how to make things levitate like she was currently trying to do with the gem… maybe a higher tier glyph?

"Y-yes. I… I'm fine, Mortal. How did you create a Source from pure mana? Such a thing goes against everything we know of mana and Unicorn thaumaturgy," she replied, rubbing the base of her horn as if it was causing her pain.

“Really?” He rhetorically asked as he frowned. Sam was beginning to doubt he was actually in some sort of VR simulation of minecraft and more leaning towards a dream. There’s only so much roleplay you can do that goes against the game mechanics afterall… “I have a dozen machines churning these out from stray magic. Ah, but there’s Minxie with my supplies.”

Minxie, true to Sam’s words, had floated in carrying a small bag. The familiar handed it to Sam before going back to wherever she went when Sam didn’t have any need of her, which was most of the time.

“Right, if you could just wait a few more minutes as I build us an area to dine.” He told Celestia as he looked in the bag, nodding at all of the bits of wood and wool he’d need to place.

'Wait, did he say MINUTES?' Celestia thought to herself as she watched him. Her mouth almost instantly fell as he had made a long table in seconds and began decorating it. After a few minutes of watching him break the laws of reality worse than a certain pink menace who shall remain nameless (HEY! I SAID NAMELESS!) the only reaction she could muster was a twitch of her eye.

“Right… Everything looks good, Minxie! The cake! Also bring some of our drinks. Tea and Starberry punch should be good.” He shouted out as he took a seat, Motioning Celestia to do the same. He had made a few cushions for her to sit upon, as a proper chair was made for a bipedal stance.

Celestia recognized the name of the berry, having believed it had gone extinct when she was filly since nopony could get it to grow again. If he truly had managed to do it… "Starberry…? Been a very long time since I've had the pleasure of tasting it…" she said as she took a seat, deliberately blocking the memory of what she had just witnessed.

“You can take an entire bushel with you if you want, they literally grow on trees!” He chuckled at his own joke as Minxie returned, setting a large square cake on the table first. It was stacked with two layers, and glazed with a soft white creamy frosting. It was fairly standard for a cake, but his encyclopedia of recipes in his mind didn’t really have any other type of cake inside of it. The familiar then set down a steaming kettle and a pitcher full of yellow juice. The plates and cutlery were last, and Sam still wondered where Minxie held all of this stuff.

"Trees? Perhaps that's why they went extinct so long ago…" Celestia said as she levitated a cup of the fruity juice to her side… along with the entire cake. "Mind telling me where you found the seeds for the starberries? Or how you were able to do what we failed to do centuries ago?" She asked as she levitated a bite of cake to her lips. When she tasted it, her wings flared out and a clear blush exploded across her muzzle.

He opened his mouth to say something about the cake before closing it and shaking his head. Pouring himself a cup of tea, he thought about how he should answer her question.

“Well, I cut some grass, and the seeds were inside the grass.” He answered, looking at her strangely as she took a bite of his cake.

She gulped and shuffled a little, using her magic to force her wings back down as she refused to meet his eye. "S-so… you truly aren't from Equis. While that means I would treat you as an ambassador from your world, I suspect you d-don't have a way back, yes…?" She took a smaller bite, shivering in delight at the taste again. She had to find his recipe. Or keep his cakes to herself.

“Well… it’s true that I had only woken up in this castle a week prior… I’m sure I’ll eventually find a way back,” he said while thinking to himself, 'Or wake up…'

“I’m glad you’re enjoying the cake, It took several deaths for me to figure out how to milk a manticore.” He laughed, his own death count was probably higher than twenty at this point, as everything in this forest seemed built to be a predator.

Celestia glanced up at him, briefly worried by what he meant. "And how, pray tell, did you manage to avoid dying? Are you a lich of some sort? Or are you transferring your wounds to somecreature so you don't actually die?" She asked while cautiously taking another bite, still warring with her two parts. One the one hoof, he was clearly killing something to keep himself alive… but on the other this cake was making her cum it was so delicious…

'Wait… That’s actually possible?' He thought, opening his mouth to answer before stopping. He could just say, ‘Respawn mechanics lul’, but that wasn’t going to cut it he felt. He looked around the room, at his art, the decor of warriors facing off against an unstoppable horde of monsters in the darkness of the night… And upon some of the glowing weapons he found his answer, soulbound.

“My body most assuredly dies Celestia, there is no doubt about that… But my soul is immortal, and whenever my body expires, it retreats back to the safe spot I set and rebuilds my body and equipment…” He spoke softly.

"What…!? But doing that…! That is slowly eating at your soul, Mortal! You're going to go insane!" She shouted, her memories going back centuries ago, back to when she had a lover…

“That’d be the case if my soul was mortal! My will is stronger than most, Celestia. I can, and have, handled it.” He spoke harshly, wondering and worried that him respawning might actually be doing that. He then shook those thoughts away, this was his dream, of course it wasn’t devouring his soul.

"Dammit, Sombra!" She snapped standing up fully as she smacked a hoof on the table, her eyes clenched tight. When she opened them to continue the argument, she realized her hindlegs were shaky and that she was standing on the table, a clear line of her cum connecting her to the cushions beneath her. She slowly looked up to Sam to see him looking at the trail with a surprised expression.

“So, ready for the main course?" he asked before looking up to her eyes with a hint of mirth.

Her response was to blast him with a lance of raw solar magic, putting a hole in his gut as the scent of burnt meat filled the air. "Oh fuck! I'm sorry!" She rushed over to try and heal him, but quickly realized that she couldn't for some reason.

“...hot.” Sam coughed out, talking about the cauterized hole in his stomach. That attack took him down six hearts, and he was still wearing his diamond armor.

Celestia's eye twitched as she took a calm step back, leveling her still glowing horn at his face. "Fuck you, dark mage…" she then proceeded to blast him again, coughing when his body exploded in a cloud of smoke and floated through the air. The sound of boots falling upon stone came from the entrance to the tower behind her shortly thereafter.

“You could have at least let me do it myself…” He groaned as he re-entered the throne room he had temporarily converted to their dining hall. His body was whole once more and his chestpiece no longer had the glaring hole it once did.

Celestia stared at him as he returned, clearly confused as to how quickly he had returned. "You… what…?" She then collapsed to the floor, her mind having finally given up and deciding to just shut down due to how much was contradicting what she knew.

“Shit! Minxie!” He shouted as he ran towards her. She mentioned she was a Diarch, right? If her subjects, hell, if her co-ruler found out she was harmed in his care this dream was going to end real fast, regardless of his functional immortality. As the fae entered he immediately called out to the Wixie. “Minxie! What happened to her!”

Minxie looked over the mare currently in Sam’s arms, the trail leading from the cushion over the table. Sam was internally yelling at her to hurry up, He was enjoying the dream, he didn’t want it to turn into a nightmare!

“Master is very virile. If the evidence is to be believed.” Sam shook his head at the Wixie.

“That- Nothing happened, she just collapsed after she killed me!” He shook Celestia gently a few times, his own super strength in this world allowing him to hold her up without any struggle.

“Whatever happens, the Sun Mare deserves it.” Minxie nodded before floating off. What was more ominous however, was when all the doors closed, most likely the other familiars ordered by Minxie to do so.

He shook his head, yelling at Minxie wouldn’t do anything, although he didn’t understand what her thought process was. He looked at the mare in his arms, trying to remember half forgotten CPR classes, and then wondering if they’d even work on a horse. Or even if they were required here…

He held a hand beneath her nose, and promptly realized he had no idea what the normal breathing pattern of her species was… Fuck it. He performed chest compressions where he thought the equine heart might be for several seconds before leaning in to begin mouth to mouth.

As he got close enough, he saw Celestia’s eyes snap open before a blinding yellow light filled his vision. He heard her voice coming from the other side of the room. “What do you think you’re doing!? I… I am a Princess of Equestria and… and…”

“You collapsed. I was trying to give, admittingly poor, CPR... “ He responded as he blinked the lights in his vision away. “Besides, you can’t tell me your suitors haven’t wanted to at least kiss? You’re a beautiful mare.” At least he assumed. She was obviously healthy despite this obsession with cake. And horn plus wings? When he had seen a mini-equine with neither, must have been bonus points.

“W-well… Nopony has wanted to try and court me for… Centuries now… I um… L-look, that's not important! If you help me kill the other dark mage, then… I’ll let you live in the nearby village! But only I get to eat those cakes you make!” Celestia said, her eyes flicking between Sam and what remained of the cake.

He sensed they were turning to the negotiations phase, which he was fine with as he fought off his own blush. He ignored the dining table in favour of walking up to the throne. An iron construction inlaid with Source Gem blocks. He’d like to say his entire demeanor changed when he sat down upon it, but the truth was that he was still the same.

“First of all Celestia, I don’t care about a nearby village, I’m completely self-sustainable right here, my farms produce all I need to eat and drink, my mines produce all the ores I’ll ever need… You’ve been a delight, so I’ll take this quest… In return, I want two things, the first is Admin privileges.” He paused, looking at her and seeing if any comprehension dawned upon her at those words.

She blinks in confusion but nods. “Very well. And the second request?”

“Considering I don’t want to move out of this castle, and I was planning on becoming a tributary of your Equestria, I believe this gives me the status to officially ask to be put on your long list of suitors.” he said. He didn’t actually have any feelings for this dream construct of his, Which is what he determined her to be, as no person in their right mind would have actually agreed to make him an admin. Courting her however, would make him prince of this land called Equestria, and depending on how long this dream lasted, king.

This actually angered her, causing her to aim her horn at him again. “And why should I do that, dark mage? Allowing you to live in Ponyville and eating your… honestly delightfully tasty cake should be enough!”

“First of all, I understand you’re flustered, but I have given you zero evidence of performing some sinister magics in this castle. Secondly… Us courting would have more beneficial effects on your kingdom than it would my small domain. Do you know how much metal I bring in daily princess? Enough to rebuild this castle out of iron in a month… Lastly, “ He smiled sadly, a performance his highschool drama instructor would be proud of. “It’s a shame such a beautiful mare has been alone for centuries…”

Celestia blushed as she heard the compliment. “S-so… y-you said that you can make the castle out of iron…? That seems impossible, given how deep it is and how hard it is to get…”

“Minxie! Bring me our collection of iron blocks!” He yelled out to the closed doors. While he would tolerate the little Wixie’s antics, now was serious business. Soon, the door opened, and Minxie along with several other Wixies came in, three held a single chest which they placed down, and then the rest filled those three chests full of iron blocks. He gestured for Celestia to look at the chests for herself as the Wixies backed off.

Celestia cautiously approached the chest and opened it, her eyes never leaving him until she turned to gaze inside… Her vision was filled with all the colors of reality bleeding together… Celestia felt like she was being pulled inside, unable to look away without help. “H-...he…”

“Speed!” Even before she had begun calling out for help, he had already taken out his spellbook. He saw his mana bar drain by a third as the spell took effect and he was across the room by Celestia’s side in less than a few seconds. He pulled her from the chest, cradling her head near his chest, her horn was dangerously close to poking his eye out, but he didn’t care, because he wasn’t thinking. He hadn’t even thought how a dream construct who had never known about minecraft would react to a chest, which stored an impossible amount of space.

“S… so c-cold… S-so deep…” Celestia said absently as she stared off into nothingness. “W-why was it so… A-absent…?”

“Shhh.” He continually hissed out stroking her hair, it was surprisingly soft. Realistically, he couldn’t have known what was going to happen. He had assumed since this was a dream all would be fine… But he still blamed himself deeply for this, regardless if this was a dream. Humans truly were social creatures. Magical wooden wolves, he was fine keeping in a cage as pets, he was fine hunting manticores and other creatures, but this mare could talk, laugh, feel, and he just felt so, so guilty… Eventually, he was unsure if he was shushing her, or his own thoughts.

A few hours later, Celestia awoke, her head pulsing in time to her heart. “Ow…” she groaned out as she sat up, looking around to spot Sam at the foot of the bed with his head in his hands. She immediately noticed that he wasn’t wearing his armor anymore and that there was what she could only assume to be an armor stand in the corner with it haphazardly strewn on it.

“I’m really sorry… I had no idea you… that only a minecraftian could…” He stuttered out as he noticed she was awake before he merely fell silent. He had already made a replacement bed and placed it elsewhere in the castle for when she blasted him in anger again. He didn’t want to know what would happen if he spawned on the same bed as her when she was still in it.

She briefly considered doing precisely that, but decided against it and stood up from the bed, a small blush on her face. “Minecraftian, hmm…? Is that what your people were called…? I… suppose I should apologize then. I was acting on the assumption that you were just another cold and heartless beast using dark magic. Does not change how I feel about dark magic at all, and I still want that wolf dead, but I think… I think with you at my side that I might be able to curb my… wrath, for lack of a better term.” She smiled faintly at him before sitting across from him, holding out a single hoof. “Truce then?”

“I already promised to help you with that wolf in return for what I asked… you already gave me one of them, so I suppose, if after this you don’t want to accept the second… I’ll understand… So yeah.” He sadly smiled up at her, this time he wasn’t acting, when he took her hoof in his hand he was surprised at how soft the fur around it was, the little he could feel around her hooves and metal guards.

Celestia smiled warmly and shook his hand before promptly pulling him into a hug. “Make me another cake and I’ll consider it.” She whispered into his ear before getting up and heading for the door.

“I’ll try to use proper ingredients this time.” He chuckled. He swore he saw Minxie run away from the doorway. He shook his head and followed Celestia down to the throne room.

“What? Why? Was it something odd last time?” Celestia asked in confusion. The last cake was so good… ‘Maybe he doesn’t want me to get like… that…’ She thought to herself with a blush.

“Cockatrice eggs and manticore milk… But other than that? Not really, petrification is just really annoying, I was so slow for three minutes.” He shook his head as he thought about how difficult it was moving around under the cockatrice’s stare.

“Truly? Have you not tried to domesticate them? I know a pegasus that could help with that. Sweet little mare…” Celestia said as she glanced out a window over the repaired castle. She smiled faintly as several memories of happier times came back to her.

“If I knew what they ate? Sure… but that takes time, and considering the mess you made… I’d imagine you’d want another one sooner than two days.” He smiled gently at her with mirth. He would be flattered that his cooking did that… but he barely did more than put the ingredients together.

Celestia had the decency to turn a deep crimson as she recalled, fully, what had transpired. "R-right… Well, the thing she told me is that you must stand your ground and challenge it in return, not letting it see how scared you are… Not sure it would apply to someone that can casually tear holes in the fabric of reality, but I'm sure you can figure the finer details out, yes?"

“I’m sure… Although I guess you’ve been here long enough, a princess is usually really busy…” He finished lamely, as he didn’t actually want her to leave. While Minxie and the others could talk, they weren’t exactly conversationalists… Although… he did have one odd recipe that could maybe help him in his endeavor to not be so lonely.

"And why would you suppose that? I made it a law decades ago that Moondays, today, are to be days of rest and relaxation. And as far as I'm aware, I wasn't unconscious for that long." She said as she nudged his leg with her foreleg.

He snorted in amusement. He remembered the Christians did something similar, for entirely different reasons probably. But regardless, he looked over at the mess of the dining area. In her haste when she had attacked and then killed him, she had knocked over both of the drinks, and they had started to mix with the cake.

“Because usually rulers don’t hang out… although I suppose weirder things have happened today… We’ll have to get new food though, I believe that cake is ruined.” He finally said.

Sam never thought he'd see someone so melodramatic, as Celestia collapsed with an expression on her face like the world had ended. It took several minutes of consoling her while stroking her extremely soft mane.

She eventually managed to gather herself and stand back up, a faint blush still on her muzzle from the act. "Ahem… apologies, Sam. I don't know what came over me. Although… Starberry juice tea sounds rather nice, I must admit."

“Heh. You just like my cake too much, seriously, what slop are they feeding you in your pretty princess castle that my cooking is the best you’ve eaten?” He laughed off her embarrassment. He had already grown used to her eccentricities around cake. “I’ll see about having Minxie get us some of that then.”

"Please do… And while my chefs do try their best, they always stick to recipes that most other mortal ponies enjoy. Yours is the first I have had that hasn't been that way in a very long time…" Celestia explained, trying to appear regal and get her blush under control.

“Right… I think you just have a fetish for cakes.” He nodded towards the dining table, causing Celestia to ball at him. While His familiars were great at performing tasks he needed, cleanup was not one of them. “Minxie should be listening around and should get us the tea… I uh… suppose I really don’t know what to do now that you’re staying…”

"I…! Ahem… S-so, about the murals in the throne room and across the castle… Are they the history of your people…?" Celestia asked, trying not to let her emotions get the better of her yet.

“Uh… yeah, I suppose.” He looked up at the one spanning the wall of the throne room. It was really just a mural he had made for fun, but he was all in on this minecraftian thing… besides, there really wasn’t anybody around to ruin his story. “This was one of the rare occurrences when several Minecraftians would wake up on the same world.”

"Wake up? What do you mean by that?" Celestia asked, still confused and curious.

"Minecraftians are… I suppose a nomadic race you could call us. We wake up in a world, build marvels and feats of engineering no other race has ever done before, all until the final rest, where we leave the world forever and wake up on a new one.” He turned his head from her, actually embarrassed that he was making a videogame sound like an entire race of multiversal people.

Celestia took him looking away as a sign that he lost someone important to him. "Someone didn't resurrect during that war on the wall, did they…?" She asked cautiously, trying her best to not earn his ire. She needed that cake after all!

"Well… not exactly… A Minecraftian can’t ever truly die… well, unless they give up. But that’s normal. You get bored of wandering from world to world, doing the same thing over and over again... “ He shook his head, almost believing the lies he was spouting off.

"Oh… who did you lose, Sam…? I-if it's not overstepping any boundaries, that is," she hastily added, worried that she might be upsetting him.

“Just my father I guess…” He smiled fondly. He of course didn’t lose his dad to some sort of war. It was a heart attack brought on by unhealthy conditions. He remembered when he was younger, his dad splurged to buy minecraft. They ran it wherever they could get free access to a computer, playing all day sometimes. When he finally got some old pc’s from one of his buddies, they had an even more enjoyable time.

"I see… I'm sorry, Sam… When I go back tomorrow, I'll let the ponies of Equestria know about you and what you've been capable of doing…" Celestia's wandering eyes rested on the chest she had almost been trapped in again. "And perhaps you should pull the iron out of the chest…?"

“We’ll have to figure something out, each block in there is a one meter square… and each chest holds two thousand forty eight of them.” He chuckled as Celestia stumbled.

Her eyes flicked between the chest and Sam in horror. "You… you have that much iron in that single chest…?"

“Well, kinda. I suppose each chest acts as an extra dimensional storage pocket. So it’s bigger on the inside. All Minecraftians can make them.” He nodded as he tried to not think about how his inventory system actually worked all that hard.

"I…" Celestia shook her head to try and dissuade any thoughts of reality, recalling that there were two beings capable of far worse in her country. "Alright. And, by chance, are Minecraftians limited in how they appear? For example, could one appear as a bipedal wolf with what appears to be silver fur?"

“We can look like anything as long as it’s bipedal and around two meters.” He said, wondering why her imagined appearance was so specific.

She hummed in thought before gazing off to the distance. "And have any of them tried to destroy rather than create…?"

He thought back to all the times he had someone destroy what he built merely because they could. “We call them Griefers. They come into a world a minecraftian has opened up for travel to and delight in destroying what others create, even if they never get to see the reaction to it.”

"Griefers… I believe the dark mage I'll be sending you after might be one of these could beings. Is there a way to deal with them permanently, or…?" Celestia let the unspoken question hang there, believing he would understand what she was asking.

He shook his head, he began to reach for Celestia before pausing his hand. He could see how much this dark mage was bothering her. He knew there was no chance they were Minecraftians, let alone griefers. “None that are… permanent… do not worry Celestia, I promised to deal with him…”

Celestia saw him pause, and, after she looked around to make sure nopony would see her, pressed her head into it with a sigh of relief. "Thank you…"

He had no idea why he cared what a figment of his own dream said, but he at least knew that he could barely stomach deceiving her in this dance of love… as he idly ran his hand through her soft fur he asked her. "I know I'm going to sound like a broken record… but you truly don't have to force yourself to accept my second term."

"It's not that, Sam… Sombra, the last stallion I loved…? You… you remind me of him. In so many ways… he was a kind soul, before he tried to make himself immortal through the dark arts. He cared for his ponies as best he could, but he eventually went mad. A piece of me believes that if dark magic was erased that I could see him again, but… I feel that you might be that reborn soul, Sam… So please, do not mistake my doing this as a favor to you for helping with that being." Celestia looked up at him with pleading eyes, silently begging him to accept her affections.

"I-" he paused, and he was crestfallen to see the beginning of hurt behind her eyes at his own hesitation. He had never loved someone else, it was too expensive to. But… "Alright… I'll… I won't treat it like that…"

She smiled brightly, pulling him into a hug as she gave him a kiss on the lips. "Thank you, Sam…" Her face slowly turned a bright red as she realized what she had just done. "Ah…"

He was shocked. Ever since he had gotten here, everything had been muted, pain, pleasure, even touch… but her kiss, awkward as it may have been, felt alive. He looked at her before pulling her in for a longer embrace, their incompatible facial structures were ignored in favor of him never wanting the moment to end. While the initial shock caught her off guard, she leaned into it, her eyes fluttering closed as her wings wrapped around them instinctively to give them at least a little privacy.

When they finally did come up for air, Celestia was panting, her muzzle a deep crimson. "Wow… that… just… wow." Celestia said, unable to think of anything else to say at the moment.

"I'm glad my first kiss was at least enjoyable for you." He said, not even winded. The exchange had only consumed one air bubble. He barely even realized they were still closer together than they had been the entire day… he almost wished he could sleep, as Celestia truly was like a soft pillow.

She noticed this and whinnied slightly, causing her blush to reach her ears as she covered her face. She mumbled something and seemed to be quivering for some reason.

"Everything okay?" He breathed out almost silently. The words were still loud in the large throne room.

Celestia suddenly grabbed him and teleported the two of them back to her old room and threw him on the bed. "Breed. Me. Now!" She practically pounced on him after she declared that,clearly not able to wait for him to get undressed.

Sam had the most confused hardon he'd ever had in his life. His struggles to remove his clothing were only exacerbated by the mare's telekinetic grasp trying to aid him. Their lips were smashing together like they were in a frenzy. After a minute, Celestia growled in frustration and slammed her hooves to either side of his head and tore the clothes off and threw them to the other side of the room with her teeth.

"Much better~..." She said as she stared down at his shaft with a moan. "Sam… I'm not sure I can hold back. Haven't… had a good fuck in centuries~..."

He grabbed her flanks, his fingers already being soaked in her juices. "You don't have to…" He breathlessly said as he started guiding her flank downwards.

She wanted as she watched her marehood slowly spread around his shaft. She moaned as she slipped and was suddenly filled by him. "F-fuck…"

He grunted as he was suddenly hilt-deep inside of her. He kept her there despite feeling her trying to push back up, getting used to the new sensation of her around him. She was surprisingly snug around his cock, as he worried she'd be too wide for him. With a slow effort he dragged her flank back up until she barely even had his tip inside of her. Once there, she tried to go back down slowly, her legs shaking from the pleasure as she leaned down to kiss Sam again.

He reciprocated the kiss. After a few torturous passes up and down his shaft, he had enough savoring the moment. With a yank as she was once more at the tip he pulled her downwards quickly, practically hilting in her before dragging her back up, slowly and torturously before slamming her back down.

Celestia threw her head back and cried out in bliss as she came for the first time in centuries. The cake didn't count! She needed this more than that, and her body knew it. Her body wanted him inside her, trying to milk his rod as she shivered from the pleasure.

He abandoned his smooth thrusts, pulling her onto him in quick, short slaps. His hands drew circles on her flank where the image of a stylized sun was. He felt that rather than being forced closer to release, he was getting impatient being so far from climax.

"Please… please fill me~!" Celestia begged, having long since abandoned trying to appear regal in his presence. She needed him, and she could tell he needed her just as much. 'M-maybe… I should…' she thought before his teasing fingers touched her cutiemark and made her cry out in bliss as she came again.

He could feel her clench around him. Bringing him closer and closer, but it was just barely enough… 'Curse this stupid body!' He thought as he edged around his climax. Soon, he abandoned any thought about being gentle to the mare on top of him, slamming her down before roughly pulling her up and repeating. Each slap that echoed through the bedroom was punctuated by a sexually annoyed grunt from Sam.

Celestia was quickly left a mess, unable to think of much else than the pleasure as her vocabulary was reduced to a single word and moaning. When her half conscious mind noticed he hadn't cum yet, she cast a quick spell to help him along… not realizing how well it would work.

Sam was left on the edge, his own body betraying itself as he barely noticed Celestia's horn glow. Soon, he felt a sharp pleasure somewhere in his abdomen. He didn't exactly know what was appropriate to say, so all he said as he slammed the mare down one more time and felt himself burst inside of her was, "Oh, Celestia!"

Celestia came one last time before collapsing, her mind clouding over for a bit due to the lust and pleasure. It took her several minutes to realize what she had just done… and how little she cared about what others might think if they found out. "Sam…?" She started nervously. "Do… Do you love me…?"

“I…” Sam couldn’t really say. But the fact that he went through with this. Despite being thrown on the bed by her, he was in control almost the entire time, and he could have stopped at any point. He pulled her in for a kiss, instead of the crazy and feverish passion from earlier, this one was gentle and sweet. “Yes, I do.” He whispered after they broke the kiss.

Celestia smiled and returned the kiss before trying to get comfortable. "Thank you… Thank you so much, Sam…"

Sam would have tried getting comfortable, but the activities they had just performed brought some terrifying news on his hud... “Celestia… Did I just… are you going to be... “ He struggled to ask.

Achievement Get! Regal Conception!

"Hmm? I mean… I shouldn't be. We're not the same species… right?" Celestia asked in return, suddenly just as scared and confused.

“Celestia… my kind are creators… I- it’s my fault, I wasn’t thinking!” He blurted it quickly seeing the panic in her eyes.

She bit her lip and shuffled, trying to slide off of him now as her fear began to set in. "We… I… Oh, by mother's light… I-if I am… Then I'll have to announce you as a royal first," she said as she began to pace. "B-but if you are, then Luna might call me a hypocrite… Oh, fuck this is… scary."

He threw himself out of the bed, ignoring the coldness of the floor as he hugged her around the barrel. “Calm down… you’re the only one who knows about my kind, for all they know, I’m already royalty. And we’ve already established whatever dark magic you feel is part of my race’s inborn nature.”

"I… Right. I'll try to keep this under wraps… Don't leave this world, please…?" Celestia asked nervously before kissing him and taking a step back. "I should go back to Canterlot. I'm sure the nobles are starting to panic by now…"

“I wouldn’t think of it… before you go though… I need to make something so if that dark mage attacks you… or some other reason, you can call me.” He switched to his diamond sword on his hotbar, it instantly appearing in his hand. This recipe was strange, as it didn’t actually require any crafting, just an item he wanted to use.

[i“I am the crafter, if you seek help, call upon me, and I will come.” He slashed the air with the sword, a mass of inky blackness behind the rip in reality he created, before the sword was sucked out of his hand into the void. The rip closed quickly afterwards. He looked around awkwardly, wondering where the item he had just created had gone, before remembering Celestia had given him admin privileges.

“Uh... right, Admin Command… Give item id, Displaced underscore Token, Sam, one.” As in his hand, the same diamond sword appeared in his hand, the same words he had spoken before echoed in his mind. He knew instinctively that if he used this item, someone could now summon him.

“Right, uh… Just tell me that you need me when holding that and I should be summoned directly to you.” He said as he held the sword out to her.

Celestia took it from him, taking note of the strange shape of the blade, but knew that he would protect her if she needed it. "This is a very… unusual shape for a weapon. What is it called, exactly?"

“A sword.” He said, looking at her oddly, while they had hooves, surely she’s seen a sword, even if it didn’t look like this.

"Hmm… Most creatures use spears. But I'll keep it close. Thank you, Sam." She bowed slightly before teleporting away.

He sighed as she left, looking down at his naked body. He barely recognized it as he felt his own hard muscles. He grabbed his clothes, which always recovered through some mysterious means after being damaged, and put them on before returning downstairs to get to work. If he was going to kill a dark mage, he needed to prepare.

Author's Note

Hope you lot enjoyed the chapter! Just 4 more, give or take, until we make it to the major event of our two heroes meeting!

Chapter 8

Silphen awoke the next morning to a scream. A scream he recognized in a heartbeat. Aurana was in trouble, and he needed to protect her. He burst out of his room, glaring at the creature carrying her away.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" He called out, charging at them with just his claws and teeth.

The three pregasi with black masks over their heads quickly took off through an open window with a struggling bag. Two Earth ponies and a large bipedal bull were blocking Silphen’s way to the window. They were surprised to see him, the three left in the room turning their heads in surprise.

Silphen pounced on the minotaur, as they tried to leave, roaring in rage as he tore into its back like a rabid beast. They took the one pony he cared for, and now he would take their lives as compensation!

While the minotaur roared as it was pushed off balance, the two earth ponies to the side weren’t as off balance as the two bucked their back legs into the tangle of Silphen and their companion. Silphen felt their kicks, heard them breaking his ribs and dislocating his shoulders… He didn't care. They would die for taking her. He screamed out a spell that flew through his mind and the wounds he was slowly acquiring vanished from him and into the minotaur below him, who coughed out blood across the floor as his ribs were suddenly in his lungs. The two earth ponies recoiled as they witnessed the horrific sight.

“Fuck this, Fuego isn’t paying enough!” One of them shouted before running off, the other continued, prying Silphen off from the dying minotaur, only to end up getting grabbed and yanked into his awaiting claws and fangs.

As Silphen watched the fleeing kidnapper, he tore open the guts of the one he had caught and left the two of them on the floor to go check on Jade.

"Jade…?" He called out nervously, scared they may have taken her or killed her as well. He sighed in relief when he heard her cough from the armoire in the room. "Jade, I'm sorry… I couldn't save Aurana… I… I need to send you somewhere that I know you'll be safe, ok…?"

Jade sniffled as she stepped out and nodded. Silphen knew she could feel his sorrow at losing Aurana, fear at losing her, and hatred at the name the pony mentioned before running off. "O-ok… a-are you planning to-"

"Yes, I am. Even if it means burning this forest to ash to get her back, I will." He said, cutting her off with his cold tone and heartless gaze. She shivered in fear at the look, all too familiar with it. Silphen began making a circle of runes on the floor, mumbling to himself about distance and facing directions. Shortly after, he stepped back and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry, Jade… I know you can feel what I'm feeling, but there's nothing I can do to quell this hate. I need to find them, and I need to make them pay. I'll get your sister back and meet you in Ponyville, ok?"

He didn't wait for a response and threw her into the portal that opened in the magic circle, connecting the two points for a few seconds after he healed her properly. He then turned to the two dying- scratch that. One dying hostage he had. The pony had succumbed to having his insides turned into outsides it seems. Shame.

Silphen stepped onto the minotaur's back, healing him a little to extend his pain. "Tell me who this Fuego fucker is, and I'll let you die quickly. Don't, and, well…" he chuckled darkly and reached forward, grabbing one of his fingers and jerking back sharply, snapping it. "I will make you wish you had."

“Hulking- Hulking Iron will never tell-” The minotaur started speaking before Silphen snapped a second finger, healing the first one as he did in preparation to break it once again.

"Try again," he said, cold as Death itself.

“Fuego… will do worse to… Hulking Iron.” The minotaur wheezed out, a little blood dribbling down his chin.

"Hmm… is that so…? Well, I guess it's a good thing you have such… an interesting set of horns, yes? Minotaurs value the length of their horns, don't they?" Silphen asked, snapping another finger as he made sure Hulking Iron would stay alive long enough to give him the answers he needed. He then rested a hand on one of the minotaur's horns, clearly intent on snapping it off next.

The minotaur chuckled. “You wouldn’t dare… Breaking Hulking Iron’s horns would… Declare your hatred for all minotaurs…”

"Ha! You really think I'd care about that? Listen here you little shit, you tell me, and get to live back in your own damn lands, or you don't and I torture your damned soul. Choose wisely, because I'm half tempted to turn you into a sow and lock you in a breeding post." Silphen growled as he began to twist the horn to the side, causing it to creak.

“Fine, fine!” The minotaur went pale. He heard dark mages were sick, but what he was talking about was truly unthinkable. “Fuego… Hulking Iron has never met Feugo, but he’s… He’s the boss around this area…”

Silphen snorted, having already guessed as much. "Obviously. Elaborate." It was clear he wasn't asking as his grip on Hulking Iron's horn didn't waver.

“Hulking Iron doesn’t know much about Fuego! Other’s who’ve met him say he’s large and mean! He takes what he wants and destroys what he can’t!” The minotaur yelled, coughing out blood at the end of his panicked tirade.

"Ah. A bandit then. Well, if this truly is all you know, then I'll let you go. But if I find out you've been holding back information…" Silphen let the end hang there. During the whole thing he had been using the blood from the pony to make a second circle, this one set to several thousand miles directly upwards. Silphen needed to make his wrath known, and he knew the best way to do that was with a very flashy kill. He stepped off the minotaur's back and finished the spell circle, letting the portal open under him.

Then Hulking Iron was distinctly aware that he was falling. When he looked forward, or what should have been forward for him, he saw the lights of the village he was just in approaching him. And quickly. All he could do was scream in horror as he realized what had just happened before he found himself impaled on a pillar of ice that had formed under him as he watched. That damn mage lied to him, and now he was going to suffer for it. The last thought to cross his mind before he died was that he should've stayed back in Zebrica…

Silphen felt no remorse for lying to the bandit. Nor did he feel remorse when he stepped outside and tore the throats out of the two "guards" that had been waiting for him. The bandit leader, this Fuego fool, had declared war by kidnapping Aurana. A thought crossed his mind that he was playing into Fuego's hands, but he didn't care. His only concern was getting Aurana back safely and taking them to Ponyville to get her sister. That was when he blacked out, the events of the night, and the extensive mana usage, proving too much for him and making him collapse into a pile of trash in an alleyway.

The large dragon was admiring his scales atop his throne of riches when he looked up. Forge, his second most reliable drake, had entered. He could smell Forge’s fear, as it should be, he was terrifying, strong and powerful, and Forge recognized that. Soon, three pony grunts came in, and Fuego was furious. Unless Forge had decided to steal his wealth, and purchase an enchanted bag, they hadn’t managed to steal both of the dark mage’s minions. And considering they hadn’t done that, he could also assume that they hadn’t also done it without the dark mage being aware.

Forge raised his immense body up, he towered a good height above Forge as he slowly stepped forward, already feeling the urge to incinerate these four. He stepped on the sack cloth with the struggling pony lightly, causing the hostage inside to go still in fright.

“Tell me why… My orders were not carried out… And why I don’t have a dark mage here, ready to sow terror.” He rumbled out, his voice thick with his seething rage.

“Th-the dark mage was more powerful than we th-” Forge’s words were interrupted as Fuego whipped him in his stomach with his tail, knocking the lesser dragon down to the ground wheezing.

“I did not underestimate a lousy mage, it is you who didn’t take considerations. It is you who failed in doing what I asked, and it is you who will take the punishment for doing so!” Fuego snorted, Heavy plumes of ash drifted over the shaking ponies and Forge. Forge had stood shakily back up, stopping at a kneeling position, remembering his place.

“I- I did not think how powerful the dark mage was…” Forge wheezed out.

“Good… These three will have their wings plucked.” Feugo glared at the three ponies as they began to open their mouths to plead. If anything, he hated that more than screwups. “You will administer this punishment, Forge, and promptly descale your left leg. All of this will be in full view of the camp.”

He was annoyed as the entrance to his cave was intruded upon once more. As he looked up, the glare he gave would cow any of the living. Unfortunately, the mare in the entrance was unintimidated, as she was part of the living dead, vamponies they liked to call themselves as. “And what is so important that you need to disturb me in the middle of this.”

The Vampony mare gave her standard greeting, baring her neck and letting her bat-like wing drop to the ground, a sign that they wouldn't fight it, should the one on the other side decide to kill them. "I'm sure you already heard, Master, but I come with a report. The minotaur's team, Hulking Iron? His body and the body of one of the ponies he commanded has been found in, and on top of, the inn nearest the camp. The third member of his group has yet to be located, but we assume he either escaped or was transported elsewhere. The mage himself has escaped capture, but has not left the village itself yet. All attempts to subtly scry him result in an alleyway somewhere in town." She bowed as she finished her report. "Thus ends my report, Master Fuego."

“Very well. Then you will accompany these four, and make sure the punishments I have doled out are performed as painfully as possible.” Fuego ordered, already dropping Forge off the list of dragons he found competent.

“I will do so, Master Fuego.” She answered back.

He looked down to the sack cloth trapped below his limb. Plans had changed, and the dark mage would not be willing to work with him anymore. He carried the sack to his throne of treasure, setting it down roughly as the spy excused herself, bringing the four others with her. They knew they weren’t able to escape his order, the rest of the camp should have heard his punishment, and if they didn’t perform it, the rest of the lowlifes would gladly do it for them to ingratiate themselves to him.

He bent down, so he was eye to eye with the pony who struggled out of the sack, she froze in terror at the sight of his eye, which was as large as she was.

“You, little pony, will tell me everything about the dark mage you serve…”

Silphen was reawakened by someone trying to steal his bag. He sprung up, and lashed out, catching the retreating pony by the tail. "Where's Fuego!?" He snapped, his anger flowing fresh once more.

“Idon’twanttodietakeallmybitsI’msorryyy” The mare dropped like a sack of rocks to the ground sobbing scared. Already the acrid scent of urine was wafting into Silphen’s nose as he got a good view of the mare pissing herself.

Silphen grunted and let her go saying, "Worthless… You know where the bandits come from? Their leader has someone I care for, and I plan to take his skull as a goblet in return."

“B-bandits… they work for F-fuego… F-from Sludgeville…” The mare whimpered after plopping down in her own puddle and scooting away from Silphen.

The wolf sighed and opened his bag, pulling out a couple days of rations and handing them to the mare. "Where might that be? I'm not going to hurt you, miss, I just want to get her back."

She looked at him, her eyes moving to his other hand holding his bag, to the one offered, to any other part of his body before quickly snatching the rations from his claws and retreating shakily to the end of the alley. “Only the bandits know where Sludgeville is…” She said as she turned the corner quickly.

Silphen groaned and began making his way to the walls of the village. He didn't think they were meant to keep things out anymore, but rather, to keep things in. He carefully watched the skies and the walls, trying to get to a gate without being seen. He quickly realized how fruitless that endeavor would be and decided to simply make his own gate. Forcefully.

He placed a hand on the wall and pulled out his spellbook, looking for something that would do the trick, and found it almost instantly. He grinned like a maniac as he read what the spell did and took a cautionary step back before casting it. The explosion was expected. As was the wood flying every which way it could. What wasn't expected, however, was the fact that it had apparently set fire to the walls instead of blowing a hole through it.

"Fuck!" Silphen shouted as he snapped his book closed and ran away. 'This is what happens when you play with lightning, kids!' He thought to himself. Although, maybe he could use it as a distraction to escape? When he looked around, he smiled as he realized the ponies weren't chasing him, but we're running to put out the fire. He could very easily escape the village while the ponies and other creatures were distracted by the fire now. Now he just had to find out where the hell Sludgetown is and burn it to the ground. Nobody hurts his love and is allowed to live. Nobody.

Silphen paused as he entered the treeline outside of the town, sniffing the air as he thought he caught a scent he recognized. "Show yourself!" He called out, ready to defend himself in case someone tried to attack him.

“I’m just here to talk.” An earthpony with a beige coat walked out. His square muzzle giving away his gender if not for his deep voice.

Silphen instantly recognized his voice and growled low and threateningly, a faint purple mist starting to fall from the corners of his mouth. "Where is she?" He demanded, preparing to kill him purely on principle.

“Hold on, hold on! You kill me, and I never tell you where Sludgetown, and Fuego, are. Not for a lack of wanting to, I assure you!” He said quickly. Holding a hoof over his chest as if that would protect him from anything Silphen did.

Silphen chuffed taking a slow step towards him. "Where." He growled out, still thoroughly pissed.

“You can’t kill me for telling you! The only reason I stayed here waiting for you is that I ran out on the job... Fuego doesn’t like those who don’t follow orders, especially his orders…” The stallion took a few steps back nervously.

Silphen growled deeply before dropping to all fours. "Then speak, mongrel, before I turn you into an ice golem slave!"

“It’s down east! You’ll find a small town with a mineshaft leading into a hill, the hill has been hollowed out by Fuego as his lair!” The stallion quickly spoke, turning to run away after saying his piece.

Silphen started to howl in frustration, but caught himself and straightened up. He took several deep breaths, forcing his anger to the back of his mind as he tried to calm down. He had a bearing now. Now he just had to follow it to the foolish lair of the bandit leader. Who knew, maybe it was a dragon that he could make a nice set of dragonscale armor out of for Aurana or Jade. Or both if he was big enough...

Author's Note

Wow! Double chapter special!

Chapter 9

Sam walked through the ruined parts of the castle he hadn’t yet restored and improved. Celestia had left only hours ago, and he had been pacing throughout the castle, occasionally dodging or casually sidestepping the traps littered throughout it. His mind was sorting through his entire mystical crafting knowledge on recipes that would protect him from magic.

His stores of supplies weren’t nearly enough for power armor just yet, as copper had been elusive to his mining. As the now Prince Consort of one Celestia, he couldn’t continue down three of his magic branches, at least not in the open, and designing a hidden enough door would take hours out of the few days he had to prepare. He gave himself three days to prepare for hunting down the mage. Anymore and he was guessing the damage the mage could do would become too much to solve or compensate for.

Why was he not using the admin commands he was given to just spawn these items in? Mainly his own pride, him and his father always played it legitimately, and never cheated unless it was funny, or some world breaking bug happened. He hadn’t exactly been keeping that up since his father’s death… But Celestia bringing his father back up in his memories sparked something in him. So, he was going to craft and craft until he solved all his problems.

There were a few enchantments he could perform which would reduce the amount of damage he would take. Protection was one, and he had all the ingredients to enchant his gear all the way to level four. Plus, he would be making a tier two glyph in the process called shield, which he could learn to create a spell that would reduce damage to him again on top of that…

He got to work immediately, prepping rituals and continually feeding expensive materials, and wooden shields, into his glyph maker. In a fit of inspiration he decided that instead of making his normal diamond sword again, He’d create one that could hold a touch spell inside of it. He put a harm glyph with three amplifies on it, and he could still enchant it with sharpness, unfortunately not with the exp-less rituals he had, but he still had all the exp from the occasional murderspree in the Everfree.

This all took him a few hours, as the rituals were surprisingly easy, but the mana they used took time to channel through him through whatever minecraft system logic. He couldn’t make strong enough robes to protect himself, since he didn’t really have enough time to explore the nether, and an end portal… Well, where was he going to find one of those?

Maybe the nearby town would have something he could use… Ponyville Celestia called it. Well, apparently iron was valuable, so he’d take that with him. He also took a stack of obsidian incase he ever needed to make a near indestructible wall. Otherwise he was pretty much set after repairing his diamond armor.

The walk to ponyville was surprisingly pleasant, apparently most of the mobs in this part of the forest had learned that they were free exp by now. The glowing on his armor was annoying though, but the occasional headache when he looked at it’s swirling patterns out the corner of his eyes more than made up for the fact that it slightly illuminated his surroundings.

He stopped as he saw a purple pony looking up at the canopy and muttering to herself. The mare had both horns and wings like celestia, this was probably her sister, Luna. He approached her, as he did what she was saying could clearly be heard.

"... And then I'll put him back in stone, the little…" she sighed, rubbing her temples as she sat down. "I swear, if he was even a little predictable I wouldn't mind as much…"

“Luna?” Sam called out after he had stepped up to the mare and she hadn’t noticed him. At least he thought she was one if the voice was any indication.

She kept muttering about something called 'Discord' and how annoying his brand of chaos was at times, clearly ignoring Sam. That, or she didn't hear him.

“Helloo~ Luna?” He spoke louder, and he probably shouldn’t have done so, if she was as powerful as her sister, but he tapped her on the middle of the head, behind her horn, which was stubby and blunted unlike Celestia’s eyepoker.

She turned to him with a sigh. "If I look like Luna, I'm... not…" she started, trailing off as she finally saw who was trying to get her attention. Then the screaming started.

“Woah, woah, calm down… uhh… not Luna…” He paused, he really sucked at talking to ponies, didn’t he? “Uh… crap, can’t use the cake tactic, Celestia ate and then ruined my only one…”

She took a few, almost hyperventilating, breaths and seemed to calm herself down a bit. "Y-you know Princess Celestia…?" She asked once she had better control over herself.

Sam blushed at the memories. He was thankful he was wearing armor, he didn’t exactly want to have this pony head to ‘head’ with him. “Yeah… you could say we’re… Quite intimate with one another.”

She visibly relaxed at that point, sighing in relief. "Phew… Pinkie told me to go check the Castle of the Twin Sisters, saying something about needing the guest of honor for her next 'Welcome to Ponyville' party. I honestly was not expecting to find… someone so strange looking. Oh! Right! I'm Twilight Sparkle! Who are you?"

“Uh, Sam, considering I think we’re still working out titles… Prince of the Everfree… and probable Prince Consort soon I guess…” He mentioned awkwardly, as Celestia left before they actually worked out much of what them being together meant.

"Prince? Odd… Princess Celestia said you were an Ambassador at worst… but a King was most likely…" Twilight said as she looked puzzled, trying to recall something if her scrunched up muzzle and crossed eyes were any indicator.

“Shit… I didn’t realize Celestia would announce our coupling and me knocking her up so quickly… it’s only been what? Twelve hours?” He said, entirely missing the purple mare's actual meaning.

Twilight deadpanned as her mind did a full system reboot, her body swaying as if his words had actually hit her. "You what…?" She asked once she was able to fully comprehend what he just said. "You… did you just say you…"

“Are lovers with Celestia, yes.” He said as he tried to quickly steer her away from his second announcement.

Luckily for him, Twilight decided to take it and nodded dumbly. "R-right… you two are… Right, ok… I'm too sober for this, how well can you handle teleportation?"

“Uh… Celestia teleported me and we-” He paused, almost putting his foot in his mouth again. “Talked directly afterwards. So I’d say pretty good.”

Twilight nodded, clearly trying to hold back her rising 'Nope' levels. Her horn lit up in a bright purple Haze and they teleported to the doorstep of what appeared to be a life sized gingerbread house. "Party's in there. I'm going down the street to get drunk and try to forget… that… No offense to you, Sam, just… She's my teacher is all… and like a second mother to me." Twilight explained before doing precisely that and walked down the street to a door with a sign over it depicting a foaming mug.

"Right…” Sam muttered. Pushing the door open, preparing for the cacophony of noise that usually accompanied parties.

Inside was dark… and quiet… and then it suddenly wasn't as confetti literally exploded into his face and a whole bunch of voices yelled out at the same time, "SURPRISE!" Sam felt himself be dragged inside by more than a few hooves, and a claw…

Sam would like to say he expected it, but truly all he expected was the shout of surprise as he felt himself literally getting dragged inside. As the stars fled his vision in terror, he looked upon the mass of ponies, and a leering goat, snake, horse, donkey thing, standing around looking at him… Then he realized he was just dumbly standing there, so he said the first thing that came to mind, “I’m surprised?”

Then the… amalgamation of animals floated over and… unzipped itself to reveal a pink mare with a grin that quite literally stretched from ear to ear. "Hey! Are you the one that put a bun in Celestia's oven?!" She asked, while still floating there in clear defiance of gravity.

“...She wouldn’t like that, so I put a cake…” He answered dumbly and absently before her words actually reached him. He shook his head hard as he realized what she just said. “Wait- how do you…?"

She fell to the floor as she giggled. "Oh that's easy, silly! See, when a new pony flies overhead, my tail gets all fuzzy and my whole body vibrates! But the only pony that was up there was Celestia, so that meant she was going to have a foal!" She said, as if that explained everything in a perfectly reasonable and logical sense.

Sam just nodded along like it all made perfect sense. At least more sense than physics defying perfect squares and chests that contained entire rooms worth of items. Before he looked over at the partygoers who all looked at him gobsmacked. He swore he could drop a needle and everyone would flinch at it. “Uh… Surprise?”

He was instantly bombarded by questions of all sorts from a huge variety of voices. He, luckily, was saved when the barkeep from down the street shouted from outside the door and literally threw Twilight into the building. "ONE AH Y'ALL NEED TA TEACH THAT MARE HOW TA HOLD 'ER DRINK!" Came the irate voice from outside, followed by loud grumbling and stomping.

“Oh look, lover’s student, gotta go see if she’s alright. Be just a minute.” He said as he sidestepped through the stunned ponies and found his way near the door. He squatted down to check if Twilight was actually okay, completely ready to run through the doors if the stampede of ponies decided to surround him again.

Twilight giggled and swiped at him with her hoof playfully. She was clearly wasted already… "H-hey, there~... *HIC!*" She said, her words slurring heavily.

“Right… It’s not night time yet. But it clearly, is your bedtime.” He said as he put his hands under her barrel, preparing to lift her up.

"Woo! *HIC!* You gonna s-sweep me away too~? H-hey, why're *HIC!* why're all these ponies staring at you~...?" Twilight asked as she looked behind him while trying to crawl over his shoulder like a cat that wanted to be set down.

"Because everyone is curious about his foal with Princess Celestia!" Pinkie replied instantly, causing her to freeze. And apparently sober up just as suddenly.

"Pinkie? Get me your bourbon. Now." The purple pegacorn demanded, clearly still not drunk enough.

“As Prince consort… or whatever… Belay that order Pinkie, Drinking isn’t going to make me or my relationship with Celestia go away.” He tried to sound stern, but his confusion at his actual title prevented that. He held onto Twilight slightly tighter as she had begun slipping with the sudden removal of her struggling.

"And as an actual Princess of Equestria, I say bring me some alcohol. It's not who my second mother has a relationship with, it's the fact that she's having one at all!" Twilight countered, turning to stare him directly in the eyes in challenge.

“And as a friend, I ask you politely to not get that alcohol Pinkie. And it’s completely natural! From one immortal to another, believe me, eventually you,” he punctuated his statement by tapping her on the nose. “Are going to find a dashing young stallion, and want him to sweep you off your feet- er, hooves. Just like Celestia.”

Twilight's eyes crossed as he booked her… and then she started rubbing her muzzle on his shoulder. She clearly didn't hear what he had said, apparently more interested in getting the sensation of being booped off her nose than anything else. Kinda cute to watch actually…

“Right. While she’s distracted… Fun party everyo- er, everypony!” He yelled out as he quickly left the mockery of a gingerbread house. Soon, as he turned down a few streets, he realized he had no idea where Twilight actually lived…

"She lives in the tree library in the middle of town!" Pinkie said from his back, apparently having read his mind, still just as chipper as ever. "Although, I can't wait to see what's inside the chest in the Tree of Harmony! Have you seen it? Of course you have, you're a Minecraftian that lives in the Castle-"

“Pinkie, don’t you have like… I don’t know, After party favors to give out?” He said, trying to distract the mare before he somehow got a headache… Or believing that pink was the new infinite void.

She gasped in shock as if she had never thought to do that, and was just gone… the only sign she was ever there being a cloud of smoke that clung to him in her shape for a few feet before dissolving. Don't think about it too hard…

“Thank Celestia…” He said, laughing as he used his own Fiance’s name in that manner. As he wandered throughout town looking for any pony to tell him where the library was, he looked down to make sure he still had Twilight securely held, only to see he was holding a purple colored pegasus mare that seemed to be just as confused as Sam was.

"Um… Hello…?" She said, thoroughly confused.

“Right… Teleportation, really gotta find a way to prevent magic.” He said as he dropped the mare, letting her gently flap her wings to land on the ground. “You wouldn’t happen to know where I can get something to fight evil dark wizards do you? Or some apples, either would be equally helpful.”

"Well… the best family for apples, if you want good quality for a decent price, is the Apple family. I think I heard they were helping serve cider, of both types, at a Pinkie Party over at Sugarcube Corner," she replied.

Sam just let out a frustrated sigh before trudging back the way he came. He swore that Celestia help him, because he knew she would, if Twilight was there attempting to get drunk, he'd… didn't really know what he'd do. Probably sic Pinkie on her while he bought some apples.

Upon returning to the gingerbread house, Sam's nose was assaulted by the scent of cotton candy and… was that butterscotch…? Either way, the last thing he heard before getting tackled by a certain pink menace and having his entire field of view turned pink was, "PINKIE, NO!"

Thoroughly confused. He felt around his face, the force of her tackle was enough to knock him slightly back, but his own strength and balancebalance kept him upright. He felt a furry mass on his face, and heard about a hundred words a second… And then he could see again as an orange mare with a stetson pulled Pinkie off his face.

"Dagnabbit, Pinkie! Think before y'all go leapin'! Ya coulda suffucated 'im!" She chastised, setting the pink mare on the ground, firmly. It was at this point Sam noticed the three apples on her flank, and the balloons on Pinkie's.

"She would have had to be there for tens of minutes before I was in any real danger." He chuckled. "Although please tell me why Pinkie was trying to do that."

"Ah don't rightly know! She said somethin' 'bout apples and gold and eating them tagether, but that just ain't possible, lest yer a dragon or whatever in Tartarus Discord is!" She replied, still ignoring Pinkie's rambling. "Ah swear, this mare gets inta more trouble than Rainbow Dash durin' Cider Season…"

“Right, Pinkie, thank you for trying to give who I assume is part of the apple family a warning I was coming, But please stop trying to be some guiding force or whatever this is. I think it’s starting to freak ponies out.” He then turned to the mare with three apples on her flank… He’d have to ask celestia about that, since he remembered tracing the sun on hers during their session together. “Regardless, I was told the apple family was the one to buy apples from around here?”

The orange mare nodded and stepped forward. "Eeyup! Name's Applejack! Pleasure ta meet ya, Sam."

“Right. Pinkie probably spread my name… or just had the entire town who now knows about Celestia do it on their own… Well Applejack, I doubt you have any of the produce to sell here. Mind if I just place the order with you and come pick them up tomorrow?”

"Not a problem! Hope y'all like apples though, cause we got a whole buncha apples back in the family orchard!" She said happily.

“Right. I hope you don’t mind me placing an order for… uh carry the one… drop that down… two hundred and fifty six apples.” He said, using his fingers to keep his thoughts in order. What he wouldn’t give for a calculator.

Applejack blinked in surprise then smiled widely. "Can do! That's gonna be five hundred and twelve bits when we can get them to you."

“I only need a few by tomorrow,” he started waving his hand. “I doubt I’ll be going anywhere soon, unless that dark mage continues to harass Equestria.”

Applejack nodded once more and proceeded to drag Pinkie deeper into the building. "Will do! And Ah think there's a filly staying at Twi's that yah should talk ta!"

“Right, Suppose that’s another place I’ll have to go tomorrow.” He muttered as he looked outside. Already it was starting to get dark again.

He sat atop one of the roofs. The climb was easy, and the roof sturdy enough to hold him. He looked up at the stars that were clear as day without the pollution that hid them from sight. All the ponies were asleep, and while he could trek back to his castle, it would be halfway to dawn by then.

Just then a mare flew up to the roof, with bat-like wings, then passed as she saw him. "Oh… sorry, didn't realize this house was spoken for already."

“It’s a large roof.” He said in reply. “Didn’t think any pony was up at this hour of the night.”

"What do you… Oh, you're not a Vampony, are you?" She asked as she took a step closer. "Sorry, you smelled like death, so I just assumed that you were one of us."

“My deaths, other creatures' deaths… I’ve been killing and being killed by the Everfree a lot recently. Hm… also vampony?” He leaned up as he took a better look at the mare. He had just assumed his mind conjured up a pegasi like he had seen earlier, but because it was night, it was giving them bat wings… but now he could see the subtle fangs poking out from their lips. He… Had recipes that called for needing to be a vampire… He wondered if vamponies counted?

She had yellow eyes that were slitted like a snake's, ridged ears with tufts of fur at the end like a bat, and as she smiled nervously, Sam saw the tell-tell signs of retractable fangs. "Uh… huh… You this mysterious creature we've been hearing about from our feeders…?"

“Feeders...? Oh, you mean the ponies… Yeah, Celestia’s going to kill me again for Pinkie spilling the beans… or I guess a better analogy here would be blood… So is Vamponyism like a communicable disease..? Something you’re born with?” He asked, being very unsubtle.

"Oh we can spread it, but… You'll need to drink a bit of my blood, and I'll need to drink a bit of yours. And then you can kiss sunlight goodbye," she said sadly. Her flank tattoo was that of a sun behind clouds with a silver sheen between the two. "But! There's the enhanced vision, the ability to fly, and even the hypersensitive hearing and echolocation!"

“My fiance would hate that.” He chuckled. “But I only need it long enough to kill a dark mage. Then I’ll just cleanse myself. You willing to do a favor?”

She seemed stunned by his declaration of being able to cleanse himself. "But… Nopony can cleanse the Vampony disease… successfully, that is. Wait, you said a dark mage had appeared? Wait! You're actually in a relationship with Celestia!?" She started to flap her wings excitedly as she bounced from one hoof to the other, not making a sound aside from her voice.

“Good to know that last one is being treated as idle gossip. And yeah, I can just make a cleansing altar and bam, a little- ok, a lot of pain, but afterwards you’re mortal again.” He nodded at the mare. Feeling better about his chances against a dark mage if he had the abilities of the undead.

"Wow… Maybe you'd be able to create a new Lineage of Vampony!" She said excitedly, then gasped in further excitement as she practically pulled him into the air and declared, "Maybe you could make a Daywalker Lineage!"

“Pretty sure I’d already be that since… you know, not a pony. You also seem way too excited about pretty much killing someone and turning them into the undead.” He said blase about the whole thing.

"Oh, right… sorry…" she dropped back to the roof, a thin blush on her face. "Just haven't seen the sun in a few decades, so I'm trying to find a way to… get out, you know?"

“Fine, fine. You turn me into a vampire, that’s my kind’s equivalent to vampony, I’ll craft the cleansing altar and you can be the first one to use it.” He said shrugging off her embarrassment. She squealed in delight, a silent sound that rattled the windows below them.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She said rapidly as she pranced around the rooftop in joy.

“Right, so uh… hm… this might actually be a bit tricky since I don’t bleed… Don’t give me that downcast look! I have blood, just my body is… unique. You fine with drinking from the source?” He said, reasuring her when she stopped prancing to look at him with a betrayed expression.

"Oh, yeah, that's actually better for transferring the Vampony disease anyway." She said nonchalantly. "Oh, and you probably want to know my name, right?"

“Heh, yeah, sorry. Been a wild day… Sam by the way, that’s my name, so what’s yours?”

"Silver Lining. I'm a seamstress and part time enchantress. Or… was, before I became a Vampony. But! It has helped my dresses become far better than ever before!"

“Well,“ he said, getting up from laying on his elbow. “We should probably do this… Uh, let me just remove my chestpiece.”

With a effort of will on his part in his inventory, the chestpiece was there one minute, and gone the next, leaving his short sleeve blue shirt in place of it. He held out his arm to Silver Lining.

She took a step forward, then paused, as she took a deep breath. "W-wow… You smell so full of life, it's… it's so…" As Sam watched, her eyes slowly went from white sclera with yellow irises to full red and white slits. "So good... You… need to hurry…"

“Right… Pretty sure I don't need this stuff to live, but yeah, prudence of the moment and all that.” He muttered as he took his hands and forced her mouth open, jamming his left arm into her fangs. As pins and needles overtook his arm, he put his bloodletting dagger in his other and made a small slit on her foreleg as she was distracted draining him. His hearts had already been reduced by two by the time he finally got his mouth around her bleeding wound.

As he drank, his perception of time slowed down drastically for a few seconds before snapping back as Silver Lining shoved him back hissing in pain and grasping at her throat, a golden glow highlighting her veins as his blood circulated through her. Whatever was happening, it was changing her. Eventually she exploded in the golden glow and when it faded, she was laying there with white bat wings and faintly glowing eyes. "S-Sam? It's suddenly very dark, and I feel very sick… wha… what just happened?" She asked, somehow out of breath.

“You know, the fact that I know nothing about magic, means that I could literally say you absorbed the sexual energy between me and Celestia and I have a chance of being right.” He said, shaking his head. “Considering I feel great, and oh- Blood bar instead of hunger, interesting. Anyways, the fact you're sick… you’re probably mortal again… Or by crazy lala land logic, you’re an angel or something, either or.”

Silver groaned as she rolled over and stood up. "Still thirsty for blood, so I think I'm just a different Lineage of Vampony now… which technically shouldn't be possible…" she said as she shook her head to try and clear her vision.

“Eh. As I said, I know literally jack squat about magic… and man is this bar low… I should probably go nibble on some monsters… Wonder how hydra blood tastes…” He equipped his spellbook, spending several seconds putting together a leaping bounce spell. He noted the differences in his hud. Like the six absorption hearts over his normal health, and the fact that he could make Silver Lining out better in the darkness… Although that could have just been the fact her color pallet now screamed wedding white. He turned to her as he prepared to jump towards the Everfree “Well, I’ll see you soon I guess… I’ll be back tomorrow, if you still want to be cleansed.”

Before he heard her response, he activated the spell. Soon gravity was distortedd as he launched through the air towards the canopy of the everfree. His feet barely touched the highest branches before he was sent soaring again. He looked at his mana bar, the first use of the spell had taken a full two thirds of it, and it had regenerated to half. When he landed softly on top of the canopy, he waited a few seconds for his mana to regen before initiating another jump.

Before he knew it, the forest thinned out in favor of the swamp, and he was sent diving directly into the muck. He equipped his chest plate before he forgot, and took out his sword in his other hand.

Just in time, as the bog gurgled and churned. His splash landing had awoken the beast… the only question was, who was the predator in this situation?

The hydra towered over his form by magnitudes, roaring in anger as one of its heads, more impatient than the others, lunged at him, throwing the rest of the heads off balance.

He took a lazy swing, the force of his attack barely enough to harm, but the spell inside took off a chunk of the Hydra's skull, exposing the inside of its cranium as blood splattered over his form.

The other heads lurched in surprise when the head didn't get back up. Sam, intoxicated, had already grabbed a handful of squishy flesh matter and squeezed, letting the reddish ichor drip into his awaiting maw, now filled with sharp and deadly fangs.

A ding sound rose up in his mind as the red one, he had only noticed now, became a two. As he jumped away from the three heads attacking him in rage, he watched through the corner of his eyes as he browsed through a power selection screen as they leapt upon the dead head in a feeding frenzy. Soon, a new one grew back in its place as one of the heads literally ripped the neck in half.

That was fine, he selected Bloodhunt as his ability before activating it. It was like a scene from a movie, the Hydra's blood, everywhere it was, in the dirt, on the trees, even inside of its body was highlighted. He could see three circular masses of blood in different parts of the Hydra's chest, hearts?

It was time to test how powerful he now was. Celestia had two shot him with barely any effort. It was now time to see how this creature, who needed three hits to perform the same feat, fared.

With a cast of his spellbook, Sam glanced at the speed buff on his hud, Before with a splash of water he took off. The heads came down one by one attempting to cut off his path of escape. But such a hulking creature was too slow to catch up with him, even slowed as he was by the water.

With a final burst of speed, Sam swung. As he connected with the side of the hydra, it sounded more like a cannon shot than a sword swing as chunks were removed. Blood and ichor flew through the air as the hydra roared out in pain as one of its hearts was violently removed.

Sam didn't stop there, circling around the large bulky creature, he jumped back as one of the heads literally broke their neck to fall backwards upon him. As one of the heads chewed that neck off the other two, given time to recover, attacked him with renewed passion and rage.

Back and back he was forced to retreat as each time he would attempt to parry one of the heads, the other would come from the other side to take advantage of his distraction if he did so.

After several times of this, he mentally facepalmed. His previous trauma told him he shouldn't get hit… But he was stronger now! With a large splash of water he pushed his foot down into the mucky swamp floor and pivoted. The damage to the head caused bloody cracks to spread all the way down to the base of the neck as he smashed it directly on the forehead with the flat of his blade.

He was swept off his feet as the other head smashed into him, sending him flying through the air. His spellbooks pages flapped wildly as he changed spells, and with a push against the air, he changed directions. With a twirl in the air merely because he could, the head was bisected vertically.

Already the last head had finished biting off the neck of the fourth head as it started growing back. He slid down the slimy scales as he held his sword like a lance and pierced downwards when he reached it's body.

The roar that greeted him, and the disappearance of one of the swirls told him that he had just destroyed the second heart.

Already the hydra was having trouble keeping upright, despite it's mighty regeneration and strength. Before any of the two remaining heads could recover, he stabbed down once more, this time cracking open its body as the last still beating heart was exposed to the open. Such a sight would repulse most, but he felt hunger at such a thing.

With swift cuts of his sword he disconnected the bloody organ from the rest of the hydra's body. After losing the last of its hearts, and suffering heavy blood loss, the hydra went out with a whimper instead of a roar…

It was a haze filled feeding frenzy for Sam, as when he was next aware, he was blocking the sun from his eyes. He was sticky and sore, which was odd, as he hadn't been sore since starting this dream.

He looked at his hud and nearly choked. He was level four in vampirism now. His blood bar was bigger than before, being completely filled. Thankfully, in his delirium he hadn't actually chosen any new powers…

He got up, feeling the dried blood crack off of him. He grabbed a water bucket and made a small alcove out of cobblestone to wash himself before he set off back to Ponyville.

Chapter 10

Silphen finally stopped outside of the walls of what he could only assume was Sludgetown. He had to follow the river back up for a full day, and then crossed it at a low point.

"To all those holding a mare kidnapped two nights ago, I have come for your heads! Say your prayers, maggots, because you will not escape this place alive!" He screamed, using a silent cast spell to make his voice be heard throughout the entire mining town. His only response from the town was the silence of the night. "So be it. You shall all burn in hellfire."

Silphen then took a deep breath and roared at the gates, a stream of fire leaving his maw as he willed it to be done. He wouldn't let a single bandit survive this night. None would live to see the sunrise.

As the gate burned down. Through the fire a volley of bolts came through. Most of them were aimed in the general direction of where Silphen was. He huffed and created a small wall of stone to duck behind. Once the volley was over, he shoved the wall into the town trying to distract and hurt a few of the foolish archer bandits.

The gate crashed inwards as flames spread to the rest of the vine covered wooden wall. The way clear, Silphen could see the volley archers, most of them unicorns. Being carried up into the air by pegasi. Before he could attempt to knock them from the air, streams of fire lit up from both sides of him. Three dragons on each side were breathing fire towards him. He growled and charged forward, calling up the gems under him to form a relatively heat resistant armor.

He then jumped, using a second spell to help give him the lift needed, he grabbed the nearest dragon and started trying to tear his jaw open. That notion was quickly dissuaded as the dragon on it’s left swatted at him. Its physical superiority gave Silphen no choice but to be knocked away with several bruises.

Silphen growled and roared at them, a purplish mist flowing out of his mouth as he wanted to kill them all. He summoned another spell, the formulas and chants moving through his mind and voice far quicker than he ever had before, and shot several stone spears at the dragons and pegasi.

The pegasi, agile flyers even with their heavy cargo, dodged them quite easily. The dragons found out the hard way that their scales weren’t up to the task of protecting them. Three of them fell from the sky, littered like morbid porcupines with stone shafts. The other three avoided most of the spears by sheer chance of diving to gain speed to ram Silphen. Three jaws were upon him as the Unicorns had finally reloaded their crossbows and were taking aim.

Silphen smirked as he allowed the dragons to get close before turning his armor into shrapnel by exploding it outward and using the spell he had called on to get him higher in the air to leap away from where he just was.

The unicorns fired, as the surrounding volley drew closer to Silphen, before he could do much, he was knocked off balance by a dark shape that almost blended in with the night. The bat like wings and large fangs only emphasized the terror as it held onto him, hissing. Soon they both looked like a large pincushion, falling from the sky. Silphen’s soft metal fur helped protect him from the worst of it, but the mare who looked much worse off than he, was still trying to get a bite off at his jugular.

He growled and called on a spell he remembered from the roleplay he did as Silphen Dardo back on Earth… He set both hands on the mare's chest and growled out, "Solam Lunam Flumine!"

As he finished the chant, a stream of solar energies and lunar energies exploded outside the other side of her, leaving a massive cauterized wound that reeked of burnt fur and dead flesh.

The mare fell to the ground with a crackling thump as her entire body began to singe and burn. The dragons, who had spent this time regaining their bearings, were now under Silphen, their maws lit up with red flames. Their fiery light illuminated the night, revealing three more dark shapes, the edge of each of their bat-like wings sported a gleaming edge.

Silphen growled and used another spell to force the dragon's fire back towards the three figures, more intent on killing them than finding out where Aurana was at the moment. He expected the fool Fuego to have her anyway. The figures surprised him as with their batlike wings they were more maneuverable than the pegasi, spiraling around the flames as they continued moving towards Silphen, which was precisely what he wanted as he simply created a small sun behind himself.

Either it would blind them like the other living beings, or it would kill them like the vampires he suspected them to be. Either way, he could land and rip the throats out of those pesky Unicorns and use their weapons to his own advantage. The three beings burst into flames. Two of them instinctively tried to back away from the object of their mortality, the last one seemingly sped towards it. Although by the time they had reached Silphen, their bodymass was barely enough to leave a large cut on his arm before the rest of them promptly turned to ash, leaving nothing but the metal wing covers to fall to the ground below him.

The three dragons were blinded, but continued their charge from below Silphen regardless. While many of the pegasi had to land with their unicorn charges, unable to fly when the night suddenly turned into day. Silphen took the advantage he had with a malicious smile as he used illusionary sounds to trick the dragons into attacking their allies. He whispered dark secrets into their minds, twisting them into his puppets, even if he only planned to kill them all later. Silphen had a single ace spell, but both him and his hatred for these bandits acknowledged the chance, however tiny, that Aurana would be caught up in it. Instead, he took the distraction as he had intended, yanking one of the crossbows from one of the unicorns, shooting them with the bolt straight through their eye, before etching a symbol in its handle.

He laughed like a madman when he saw it light up and a bolt of pure arcane energy swirled into existence on its string.

The pegasi took to the air, this time without their cargo as the bodies of the three dragons slammed into the ranks of the unicorns, decimating their numbers. Seeing a losing battle, most of the pegasi began to retreat, fleeing the now burning town. But Silphen couldn't allow it, sending his draconic puppets after them as their final command. They'd wake up an hour later, but he couldn't care less. Dragons attacking ponies always drew attention to the dragons and made them become hunted, according to what he overheard from the guards in prison.

Instead, he turned his attention to the hill in the center of the town and made his way towards it, the rest of the town was eerily abandoned. He hadn’t seen a single earthpony yet either. As he entered the hill, he saw why. Many of their corpses were mangled or simply crushed around the form of the largest dragon he had seen yet. Fuego, he presumed, who stood nearly to the ceiling of the hollowed out hill. Next to him was one of the dark vampire-like mares who had attacked him earlier, her expression seemed entirely uninterested in what was happening around her. On the other side of the dragon was a dark blue unicorn stallion, his horn aglow with a cyan light as he struggled to carve out the final lines of the massive magic circle below them Silphen only now noticed.

“And the dark mage comes, after decimating my poor underlings…” The dragon’s voice rumbled, sounding like the rockfalls of a mountain.

"Says the fool that dared to kidnap my only reason to keep from turning this entire world into a barren wasteland." Silphen shot back, spittle flying from his maw as he quickly deciphered that the circle was a blood sacrifice type of teleportation. "Where is Aurana? Return her, and you may yet live."

“She’s right over there, Silphen.” He chuckled as he pointed a claw bigger than Silphen towards the other side of the cave. There, unbound, and unharmed save for bruising, was Aurana, a stone collar inscribed with magic circles was around her neck, a simple Diamond in her grasp as she looked at Silphen with a face filled with horror. “She had watched everything you did to my poor, poor tools…”

Silphen's face fell, the anger and hatred he felt instantly being replaced with horror and regret. Fuego played him… "Aurana… I…" he started, trying to explain himself.

"Stay back." Aurana said, scared of what he might do to her and her sister. "S-stay back and tell me where Jade is."

“As I told you little pony… All dark mages are the same. I’m sure once you were taken, he used her flesh and blood to hunt me down…” Feugo chuckled at his own imagery.

Silphen growled as he turned back to Fuego. "I'd sooner die than see her harmed. Her or her sister. I sent her somewhere safe, somewhere even someone as stupid as you wouldn't dare to go." Silphen then signed the number six towards Aurana, giving her a hint as to where he sent her sister. After all, even she had heard of the Elements of Harmony by this point.

“Ponyville, where the elements of harmony live master Fuego, several thugs were already told to keep a lookout.” The Vampiric mare next to Fuego spoke up. Silphen's eyes widened as he realized he may have just doomed Jade and himself.

"No…" he said in shock before something snapped in him and he began to draw on the nearby shadows and the stench of death to use his ace. A faint chiming filled the air before he looked to the side and saw Aurana, terrified, and dropped the spell. "Aurana, please… I didn't know they were already aware of what had happened. I need to get us as close to Ponyville as I can, and soon."

"Y-you…! You left her alone out there! Half dead with a sickness-!" She started, screaming at him for putting her sister in danger.

"I didn't know they had spies out there, and I sent her to Twilight's place! AFTER I healed her properly!" Silphen countered, his care for Fuego and the two ponies having vanished from his mind for the moment.

“And Jade has already been taken into the element’s custody as an asset of a dark mage.” The mare to Fuego’s side spoke up as the inlay on the ground finished and the unicorn nodded to Fuego.

Aurana's eyes flicked to the Vampire mare before returning to Silphen. "See!? You may as well have killed her, bastard!" She snapped, blaming him for the whole thing.

"And what then?! Become the thing they're saying I am!? Aurana, I did this to get you away from him!" Silphen snapped back, jabbing a finger at the dragon.

"Then you should've just waited!" Aurana shouted, tears finally starting to fall down her face at his betrayal of her, albeit small, trust. "You should've waited…"

"For what? For them to send me an ear and a cryptic message? No. It was this, or death," Silphen said, as his own emotions became so confusing and convoluted that he wasn't sure if he was more pissed at himself, or at the dragon and his bandits.

“All he wanted was to talk! This thing?” She yanked the stone collar off with ease and held it up. “Doesn’t even do anything!”

Fuego chuckled as his entire plan fell through, but knew that the mage Silphen would be distracted a while yet as he nodded towards the tiny, by comparison, unicorn. With little fanfare, and a blood red light, the three of them winked out of existence before the carved stone circle went inert, before cracking the surrounding stone, making it both unusable, and unrecognisable, and causing the hollowed hill to rumble.

Silphen looked up at the crumbling roof in a panic before running at Aurana while chanting in common English, "Tear open the veil and shift the distance of time and space, Portal!" He grabbed Aurana just in time as he dove through it, arriving in the forest just outside of Ponyville. He stood up with a groan and looked down at the struggling mare, who was still very irate with him. "I-"

She didn't give him a chance to speak any further as she punched him, knocking him out.

When Silphen next awoke, his head was pounding and he saw the sulking unicorn mare nearby, holding his bag. He decided not to fight with her over it and simply got up and came over to her. "Aurana…" he started, trying to come up with something to say that would help ease her mind.

“Be quiet and just… open this…” She said, refusing to look at him.

He nodded and opened it, turning the bag inside out so that everything spilled out. Including the Timberwolf cores that he had forgotten about. "Oh. Right. Forgot those were in there…"

She ignored them, grabbing the rations inside before seeing his arm out of the corner of her vision. “Lay down… on your stomach.” She said monotonously

He looked at her worriedly, but did so, groaning as his aches and pains finally caught up to him. "I… I'm sorry, Aurana… if you-"

She interrupted him by yanking a bolt out of his shoulder with her magic, putting a leaf he couldn’t recognise in its place. The area went numb for a bit. She continued on like this for a bit, each time she yanked a bolt out she applied another leaf.

“Why...?” She asked morosely.

Silphen grunted as he tried to keep from crying out in pain as she yanked one of the last few bolts back out. "Why… what…? W-why did I save you? Or, try to at least…? B-because I… I love you, Aurana. I d-don't want to see you hurt. And if that means keeping you and Jade safe by being the villain, then so be it."

“But why go to the lengths you did! Why do you even love me in the first place! You’ve known me all of two weeks! We spent most of that time in jail!” She screamed out as she yanked one of the bolts forcefully, applying the leaf just as roughly.

"Gaah!" Silphen screamed out in pain before the numbness set in. "Because you're the first person in my life to show me kindness and not be related to me! Or just want something from me for the sake of wanting it… Look, if you want me to leave you and your sister alone I will. It's gonna tear me up inside, but I'll respect it and leave."

“... How much of what you told me is a lie? When you told me you’ve never used those… evil spells inside that book… Was that a lie? After what I saw… what you made those dragons do…” The pain from yanking out the last bolt never came, because as soon as he felt her grip on it begin to pull it out, it fizzled just as suddenly.

"Aurana… I haven't lied to you… And I won't lie and say I won't do something like that again, but…" Silphen sighed and started to get back up reaching for his spellbook. "I have a truth cage spell in here. I'll teach you how to set it up and you can ask me anything you want. It'll force me to speak truth."

Silphen felt tears on his back. “You still don’t get it… It’s not that I can’t trust your words… It’s that exact attitude that makes me so frightened of you… That you’re so powerful you think every solution can be fixed by brute force… do you even know the amount of creatures that you killed yesterday in less than five minutes…?”

Silphen stopped, a somber coldness settling into his voice. "So far? I have killed thirty creatures with my own two hands. And another fifty simply by laying siege to Fuego's base, yes I'm counting those sacrificed as being on my hands… Does it mean I feel bad for killing them…? No. And that's what scares me most. That I'm becoming like them…"

“...I won’t ask you to turn yourself in, because even I know Equestria would want you dead just for what you did to those dragons… but… We’ll go get Jade, and I’ll decide what I want then…”

Silphen nodded, looking over at the crossbow he had taken in disgust. He knew he should throw it away, or break it, or something, but he wanted Aurana to have something to defend herself with. From himself. He picked it up and turned around, holding it in his hands. "I know you're going to say you don't want it. But I need you to have something to defend yourself from me in case I truly do lose my mind, Aurana." He then held it out to her.

She looked between him and the instrument of death, images of him shooting a bolt into a mare’s eye flashed before her… She shook her head.

“I- I can’t hold that… thing...” she said in disgust, barely able to even look at it.

He sighed and nodded, respecting her wish. "Very well then. I'll hold on to it and give it to someone you deem capable of stopping me then." He then proceeded to put everything back into his bag, after correcting it to re-enable the enchantment that made it a bag of holding. She sighed at him.

“Lets just… go get Ja-” She was cut off by a high pitched whine and Silphen throwing himself over her to act as a shield from the tangible noise. When it cleared she saw a white unicorn telling her something, but she could quite tell what since her ears were still ringing. She thought she said something in return, but she realized she couldn't even hear herself through the ringing in her ears.

That was until a green glow envelopes her vision and her hearing returned with a pop. She turned around as she felt Silphen's touch on her back and saw that he had somehow put on some more muscle. "She was saying to get away from me." He replied calmly, a small smile on his face.

Author's Note

Woot! Just another chapter or two, depending on if Zemez wants to do a crossover for himself, and Sam and Silphen should be meeting up! How exciting!

Chapter 10.5 (C/O)

After a few days of travelling , Silphen found himself running from a pack of timberwolves, screaming cartoonishly, his arms up and ready to grab the low hanging tree branch he spotted a few feet up ahead. Once his hands caught the branch, which was luckily sturdy enough to support a 5' 6" wolf running full tilt at it, and then swinging up onto it from the sudden change in how he was moving, meanwhile the timberwolves kept running right under him.

"Heh. Dumbasses." Then he felt something shift in his mind, causing him to say two words. "Deslocamento Arcano." He felt a slight drain on what he has come to understand as his mana pool, just as a portal opened up right below him. "Huh. Guess someone summoned me... Better leave my book here, just in case they soldiered through it..."

A completely different displaced universe...

“Hooee! Ah think we’ve done enough for today.” Applejack said as the three sat on her porch. “Y’all did a good job out there. Take the rest of the day off, Ah can handle the rest.”

“Thanks Applejack. See you later!” Cassie said before the two flew away.

A few minutes later, the two landed in the center of Ponyville. As the two walked around, Mira noticed a strange object floating in the breeze. Jumping into the air, she gently caught it and landed next to Cassie. It was a symbol of some kind, woven from grass. As Mira held it, she heard a voice inside her mind.

“In brightest day,
In blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evils might,
Beware my power,
Green Lanterns light.”

“Hey Cassie, I think I just grabbed someone's token. Don't know who it is, but I think it's a Green Lantern displaced.” Mira said. Cassie raised an eyebrow.

“They didn't give their name? Weird… well, call them over.” She said.

Mira then called out, “Whoever you are, may we have a word?” Instantly a portal formed and spat out an unknown figure wearing a cloak onto the ground.

“Bloody freaking… I hate that spell now.” The creature said, getting up. He looked like a white werewolf to the two girls, but a diamond dog to any ponies nearby. He had blue eyes, and a patch of black hair on the top of his head.

Nearby, someone shouted “DIAMOND DOG!” and within seconds there was mass panic.

Both girls facepalmed before Cassie grabbed the newcomer and said, “Brace yourself!” as she leapt into the air with him holding on for dear life while Mira followed. A few minutes later, they landed at Whitetail Woods.

“Sorry about that…” Cassie said as the werewolf picked himself up.

After fully dusting himself off, he sighed. “Well. That went better than I could've not hoped. I know a spell that would've let me calm them down, you know.”

“My experience, just let them calm down on their own. At least it wasn't as bad as the bunny stampede…” Cassie groaned in annoyance. “Seriously, ponies scared of rabbits…”

Chuckling, the wolf looked up at the two, and said, “Yeah, that was a pretty funny episode. Anyroad, name's Ashton Grey, but I'm stuck as the Archmage Silphen Dardo from a roleplay with some friends back home. Who're you two stuck as? Zapdos and Erza?”

“I’m Cassandra, or Cassie for short, and this is my sister, Miriam, or Mira. As for what we got displaced as, we’re characters from an RPG game called Brave Frontier. Mira’s Holy Blades Sefia, I’m Pheonix Thunder Rayla.” Cassie said. She raised an eyebrow. “We thought you were going to be a Green Lantern displaced with what we heard from your token.”

His previously simple smile turned into a shit eating grin. “Yeah. That was the point. I wanted to mess with people. And besides, you really think a grass twine token would come from a Lantern of any color?”

Both girls shook their heads. Mira unsheathed her sword and embedded it into the ground, the six intangible blades surrounding it doing the same. “So you're stuck as a werewolf? That must be.. interested to say the least.” she said.

“Pfft, I wish I was a werewolf. No, I'm a Soft Metal Furred Wolf. Specifically, a Soft Silver one. Go ahead and touch my muzzle, it's weird how soft the metal hairs are.” He says, putting his hands behind his back while leaning forward and tilted his head to the side so they could get at his muzzle easier.

Mira hesitantly brushed her hand over the fur, to her surprise it was as soft as actual fur. “Must be like your own personal armor.” she commented.

That got another chuckle, this one of disappointment, out of him. “I wish. Only thing it's good for is a natural Faraday Cage, and spell components. You said you were something with thunder?”

Cassie nodded. “Thunder is my character’s element.” She drew her own sword, the lightning glyphs etched on it crackling with electricity.

“Neato. Hit me with something lightning. Don't worry, between the sigils on the hemming, and the fur, I'll be just fine.” He widened his stance and bent his knees slightly, sure that even with those two precautions he was still going to go flying.

Cassie's eyes glowed before shouting “Thunder Blade: Yellow Silk!” She then slashed forward with her blade, creating an arc of lightning before leaping up and spinning her sword, the electrical energy from her wings blasting up, revealing her normal wings before both she and the lightning blast smashed into Ashton.

As he predicted, the lightning itself didn't hurt him whatsoever, aside from a slight tingle as his fur stood on end, small lightning bolts arcing between each strand. Then he was sent flying into a tree, and groaned from the impact. “Ow…”

Both girls winced before Mira walked over and helped him up. “You okay?” She gave a yelp as she was hit with an electrical discharge from him.

Groaning, he got himself up, and created a mudbath through some weird language that neither girl understood before starting to take his robe off. Only then did he notice them both staring at him. “What?”

“What… were you just chanting?” Cassie asked.

He began climbing into his mana made mudbath as she was talking, the electric arcs fading as he kept submerging. “Ah. Guess that part wasn't clear. Silphen Dardo studied, and mastered, a very wide range of magic in their most primal forms. That one was Mud Magic. The book I left in the tree I leapt out of after running from some timberwolves holds most of what I've managed to decipher. I'm trying to find the one for M127, a sentient scrying spell, that helped Silphen test and get a proper feel for many of the magic branches. Anything you girls wanna know before I get out and put my robe back on so we can go back to town?”

“So you can use magic?” Mira asked, brushing her long white hair back over her shoulders, unaware that a few strands were sticking straight up after her unexpected shock.

Ashton looks down at the mudbath he was currently sitting in, then back up at Mira with a look that said, ‘What gave you that idea?’ “You got some floaters, there.” He said, pointing at the lightly charged hairs.

“Huh?! Arrrgh, I hate having long hair sometimes…” Mira muttered as she pushed her hair back down. “How long have you been displaced?” She then asked.

“About half a month? I think? Hard to tell. Don't really have calendars out there. Oh, by the way, Silphen has studied all the branches of black magic as well. Don't tell the sisters though, since I don't want to be hunted here as well.”

Cassie gave a small chuckle. “Don’t worry, we’re not blabbermouths.” she said.

Ashton sighs in relief, just as he starts to raise upwards, the ground turning back to normal, not leaving a trance of dirt on his person. “Thank the a- and I'm using his swearing system… Lovely…”

Both girls tittered. “C’mon, hopefully they’ve calmed down enough to… Ashton, DUCK!” Mira yelped as she saw a familiar prismatic blur zip towards their position.

Ashton, who had been bending over to retrieve his robe anyways, didn't realize what Mira said until Rainbow Dash had already flown over his back, causing him to straighten up and look around in confusion. “What just happened?”

Both girls gaped in astonishment. “You nearly got tackled by Rainbow Dash.” Cassie said. At that exact moment, a thud was heard as Rainbow smacked into a nearby tree.

“Ow…” She groaned as she stood back up. “Cassie, Mira, get away from that diamond dog!”

“Rainbow, don't-!” Cassie began to say but was suddenly cut off by Ashton.

“Really? You too? Ξέρεις ότι μπορείς να με εμπιστεύεσαι, Rainbow. Τώρα ηρεμήστε και ακούστε τη λογική.” He said, putting out both his hands in a non threatening manner, though the faint pink glow about them and the sudden calm the brash pegasus felt despite not consciously recognizing what he had said.

“Just who the buck are you?!” She asked, her temper having cooled a bit due to the spell but not enough to dispel her suspicions. “You look like a diamond dog, but you act like Cassie or Mira when they get offended…”

He looked to Cassie and Mira, and then back to the pony before him. “How much have they told you about our… shared unique curse? I am not going any further without knowing how much you know for sure. But first off, I’m a wolf, not a dog, and my fur is made of soft silver, not… whatever the diamond dogs have.”

“Wait, you mean you're one of those 'Displaced’?” Rainbow asked.

Nodding, Ashton let the mana he was channeling into maintaining the soothing effects of the spell, and said, “Yeah. I’m a Displaced. I’m also a Soft Silver Wolf. A species of alien that has metal for fur. And no. It’s not like an actual armor. It stops most lightning based attacks, but not much else. And I can do magic, something I highly doubt any version of those little idiots are smart enough to do.”

Rainbow snickered. “Yeah, probably not.”, Meanwhile, both Cassie and Mira sighed breaths of relief.

“So. With that out the way…” He then turned to the other Displaced. “What season you two get dropped in? I’m pretty sure I’m in season 4.”

“Considering we were turned to stone with Discord when he was reigning, I’d say.. second season.” Mira said.

“Lucky.” He said, before leaning in and whispering to them, “You guys don’t have to deal with flying purple book horse yet. Please try to keep her out of alicornhood… I personally feel she shouldn’t have been promoted for what she did…”

“I think that's the last thing on her mind right now…” Cassie muttered, looking towards where Sun’s Hollow had been situated in the distance.

Confused, he asked, “What’s over there? And what’s up with your world?”

“It’s… one of the occupational hazards of being a displaced, you end up encountering enemies from your game universe. In our case, we have to bring down not one, but four gods and goddesses that want ponykind destroyed. Before we woke up, a town called Sun’s Hollow was razed, only a few kids and one adult survived.” Mira replied, her voice choking a bit.

Hearing this caused the wolf to twitch as he tilted the hood of his robe further down his face. He then said in a frighteningly calm voice as a small amount of purple mist leaked out from under his hood, “Really? Well… If ever you need a hand PUNISHING those four, let me know. I have a couple spells I wanna test out on them now.”

“Right now, we’re trying to figure out where Maxwell is, and our best bet is in the dragon lands.” Cassie replied.

“Y’all have clues? Good. Now, if you don’t mind, would you care about a hunting season? I wanna go and kill a timberwolf or two.” He said, looking up, showing the mist flowing out of his eyes, despite not having changed color themselves.

“Wait, you can't just go and slaughter Timberwolves, are you insane?!” Rainbow exclaimed.

Looking at Rainbow through his cowl, she could feel the barely hidden rage boiling inside him. “I need to hunt before I go back, or I will burn down the forest around the bandits I’m searching for. And they have my marefriend.”

“You have a girlfriend back on your world?” Mira asked. She sighed. “Alright, you can hunt in the Everfree, but only…” She held up a hand to forestall any argument. “If we come with you to make sure you don't go overboard.”

He looked back to Mira, and nodded. “Good enough.” He then dashed forward, grabbed her and Cassie, and used a long range teleportation to put the three at the edge of the water in Froggy Bottom Bog.

The two girls staggered as the disorienting effects of the teleportation wore off. “Gaaah, this is why I prefer flying than teleporting…” Cassie groaned, holding her head.

He glanced at them both and shrugged. “Froggy Bottom Bog. Where to for the hunt?”

The two froze. “Isn’t this where that Hydra lives?” Mira squeaked.

Smiling, he turned back to the swamp itself, and howled, the sound one of primal fury, unbridled rage, and sorrow. “Let them come.”

A bovine bellow answered his howl as a large Minotaur stomped out, ax sparking with electricity, flanked by a pair of Salamanders. The two crocodile-like beasts hissed in anticipation, flaming drool dripping onto the wet ground. Both girls readied their weapons, the seven blades circling Mira’s main blade beginning to spin faster.

Grinning, Ashton started to be lifted into the air by a miniature tornado. “Not what I wanted, but I’ll take it. Gladius glaciei.” As he spoke the last two words, a sword made entirely of ice formed in his hands.

The Minotaur gave an enraged bellow and charged, while the Salamanders blasted out twin torrents of flame, their bodies giving off extreme heat and scorching the ground around them. Mira stepped forward and blocked the twin blasts, but the heat soon became too much for her and she backed off, sweat dripping from her body and her shield blackened. Meanwhile, the Minotaur swung its ax at Ashton, seeking to cleave his head from his shoulders.

Willing the tornado to lift him out of reach, he pointed the sword at Mira, and said, “**إرادة مجددة ، تبارك هذه الروح وتحميها من ألسنة أعدائنا,” causing her to glow slightly as her body recovered from the near heatstroke she had been feeling mere moments before.

Cassie then closed her eyes and chanted, “Selene of the 6, assist us!” A small summoning circle opened up in front of her before a girl in a blue dress appeared, wielding an ornate sword. Charging over to where the Salamanders were, she quickly dispatched them before they could torch her. Giving a military salute, she then vanished.

Giggling like a madman, he screamed at the minotaur, “***Dall agus deafen, solas soinneáin agus fuaim!” Causing a ball of light to appear in front of it, and explode like a flash bang, while he stabbed his blade into the muscly mass of a chest it had, shocked when the blade stopped short.

The Minotaur glanced down at the blade and snorted before yanking it out and sending Ashton flying backwards into the two girls, the three crashing to the ground in a clatter of armor. It snarled in rage and stomped towards the three, it's axe ready to cleave them in half.

Panicking, he locked eyes with the minotaur and said, “破碎和粉碎, 石頭惡魔的眩光!” He hoped it would do what it was supposed to, and petrify the beast.

To his shock, the Minotaur raised a hand to block his stare and thus nullified the spell. It began to pick up the pace, snorting eagerly.

“Shit. Smart little fucker… What’s his weakness?” He asked, getting up and resummoning his tornado.

“He’s a thunder unit, he’s weak to earth based attacks.” Cassie coughed, spitting mud out of her mouth. Both she and Mira were now plastered in the stuff.

“Oh good, I have just the blade then. 土製武士刀.” He said, dispelling the tornado and slapping his hand to the ground and pulling it up, an earthen katana coming up with his hand.

The Minotaur closed the last few feet and raised its axe, eyes filled with bloodlust. Cassie and Mira quickly stood up, but the grime on their armor caused them to slip and crash back to the ground. With a victorious bellow, the beast swung its weapon down in a killing stroke.

Swinging his own blade up to meet, and hopefully deflect or block, Ashton met the ax head on.

The blade glanced off the ax, but it was enough to redirect it away from the two girls, instead embedding itself deep into the Earth. The Minotaur growled in annoyance as it tried to pull the axe out of the mud.

A small ding was heard above everyone’s head, as a large orb of dripping shadows had finished forming. “Oh! Finally! *****魂を収穫して体を破壊する. 死の波,” he said, pointing an open hand at the monster as the orb broke and a wave of darkness flowed over the minotaur, covering it entirely.

The Minotaur gave a pained bellow before it began to disintegrate before the girl’s horrified eyes. Skin, muscle and bone were turned to ash within seconds. Soon, all that was left was a pair of pants and the massive axe. Mira soon fainted, Cassie just barely catching her while fighting the urge herself.

Panting, Ashton looked over at them, and said, “Sorry about that… Strongest one I got… Totally drained…”

Cassie shuddered. “I’m just glad you're on my side.” she said.

“Yeah… Same here…” And with that, he collapsed onto his back, staring at the sky. “Your world… Is fucking weird…”

“Welcome to the multiverse.” Cassie said, laughing. She then looked down at herself with a disgusted look on her face. “It’s gonna take hours to wash this off… price we pay for fighting in swamps.”

“Gimme 30… I can… magic that off…”

Cassie shook her head. “We were in need of a shower anyways, after helping at Sweet Apple Acres.” She shook Mira, who soon began to stir. She extended her hand to Ashton. “It was… honestly refreshing fighting alongside you. If we ever need your assistance, or if you need ours, we’ll call you or you call us.”

Looking up at her, he asked, “And… how exactly... can I do that…?”

Cassie brought up a single floating blue crystal. “This is our token, a Battle Crystal.”

Nodding he took the crystal, and heard their voices in his head.

“If you ever need to call us, just absorb the crystal. It’ll boost your powers in the process.”

Groaning, he sat up. “Couldn’t you have made the message shorter?”

The red haired summoner smirked as she helped him up. “Believe me, there are other displaced with longer summoning messages.” she said.

He looked at Cassie and laughed. “Yeah, fair point. I guess yours could be a little more confusing and long winded.”

“Is there anything you want to ask regarding the Displaced?” Cassie asked.

“Nah. Just lemme recharge my mana pool a little before you send me back. Apparently I use a spell when I travel.”

She nodded before Mira spoke up. “W... what was that spell you used? It… it reminded me of a Dark type attack.” she asked, her voice shaking a bit.

“Death and Shadow go hand in hand, but amplify the mana cost insanely.” Ashton replied, looking at Mira. “The Shadow magic is why it also has a charge up time.”

Both girls nodded in understanding. Walking back to where they had fought, Mira retrieved her now muddy sword and shook her head. “Twi’s probably gonna have a fit when she sees us like this.” Shaking her sword, she managed to dislodge most of the mud. Cassie muttered agreement, looking at her wings.

Following them along, he chuckled for the umpteenth time that day. “Really? Twilight’s gonna flip? Obviously you two haven’t met Rarity.”

Both girls laughed. “We have, and she's the one that's made us spare clothes.” Mira said.

“Then you’d know that she’s the one you gotta worry about. Remember that episode where Sweetie Belle tried to help?”

Both of the girls gave him embarrassed looks. “We’ve only watched at least one or two episodes, most of the time we were playing Brave Frontier on our tablets.” Cassie admitted.

“Pfft. Weaklings.” He then did a 360 sweep of the sky, to try and see if Rainbow Dash had tried to find them. “You told the others that they’re just a tv show where we come from yet?”

Both of them shook their heads. “No, we haven't.” Cassie said.

“Good. I get the feeling they won’t like that little detail too much. I can feel that I got enough mana now. You wanna send me back, or you want me to meet the others first?”

“I’m pretty sure Rainbow's told Twi and the others about you already. And besides, you have someone back in your world that probably needs you more than ever.” Mira said.

“Yyyeeaahh… Noticed something just before I lept through the portal… The leaves were slowing down the closer I got to it, and I think just before I went through, time stopped entirely. So as far as I can tell…”

Cassie frowned. “Weird… But anyways, we honestly need to get ourselves cleaned up. We have your token in case we need your assistance. Ashton, our contract is complete.” She said. As soon as she said those words, a portal opened behind the wolf mage.

Looking back at it, he said, “******Deslocamento Arcano.” Which caused him to float up, and directly into the portal, no tilting or anything.

And just as he had predicted, time in his world had indeed frozen when he left, causing him to fall the rest of the way to the ground. Though do to how he had went back through, suddenly had his feet pointing at the ground, and landed flat footed. "Ho... That's one hell of a trip..."

Hope you guys enjoyed, because I'm really starting to feel that you guys don't like my story.

Author's Note

This crossover is with Equstarte Marine Sebaste on his story, Brave Frontier Equestria!

This chapter takes place after Chapter 11, but before 12.

*You know you can trust me, Rainbow. Now calm down and listen to the logic
**Rejuvenating will, bless this soul and protect her from the flames of our enemies
***Blind and deafen, blast light and sound!
****Broken and crushed, the glare of the stone devil!
The one with the earthen katana is already translated in the description.
*****Harvest the soul and destroy the body. The wave of death
*****Arcane Shift

Chapter 11

The first thing Sam did as he returned to Ponyville was stop by the apple Orchard that was directly bordering the Everfree. It took him a few minutes before he found the mare he had met the night previously, Applejack. He skidded to a stop in front of her, barely panting from the exertion.

"Woah there, feller!" AJ said as she almost ran into him. When she looked up and saw his red eyes and fangs she paled a little as memories of her friend ruining her orchard one time came flooding back to the forefront. They still aren't sure how she doesn't need blood, but that wasn't important. "Y'all a Vampony now…?"

“Huh? Oh… uh temporarily until the dark mage is beaten, then I’ll turn back because not being… in… the sun… It’s morning isn’t it?” He looked up, barely realizing in his haste that he had been in the sun the entire time. She simply nodded, dumbfounded by how he hadn't noticed, let alone hadn't caught fire yet.

"Ya mind tellin' me how ya ain't burnin' up right now? 'Cause last Ah checked Vampony's can't go out in the sun." She said after shaking her head clear of the confusion.

“Uh… Magic bullshit? I don’t really understand it myself…” He doubted telling a dream that dream logic made no sense would go over well… “But I’m here to pick up some of those apples I ordered.”

"Ah, right. How many y'all grabbin' taday?" Applejack hefted up a wooden bucket of apples and started leading him back to the farmhouse that looked suspiciously like a barn.

“Well, I’d take all two hundred and fifty six if you have them. “ He said, nodding at the rustic appearance, although it was a little shabbily made, and a lot of space was wasted.

Applejack chuckled and set the bucket down and circled around it. "Tell ya what. You take this bucket here, and pay fer thirty, and then come back in about an hour and get the rest. Sound good ta you?"

“Sounds good.” He said, moving a bunch of gold ingots into his crafting space and turning them into nuggets, then putting those nuggets into the space and getting what his system called bits. He dropped a stack of sixty at his feet, not expecting that they'd pile up to his knees.

"Welp… I seen weirder things 'round Pinkie… If y'all need a helpin' hoof with these, let me or nah broth- Where'd mah apples go?" She asked, noticing the suddenly empty bucket. The answer would be in his inventory, and true to her word, the stack said thirty. She must count them as she’s picking them or something.

“Ah, in my… extradimensional space.” He said, remembering the explanation he used for Celestia was. She looked up at him, then imitated a fish for a few seconds before shaking her head is disbelief.

"Y'all chaos bein's need ta get bells or somethin'... Ah can't keep track ah how many there are 'round these parts no more. Discord found out tha reason he done been alone fer so long was that he done pulled all his folks from when he was a little tyke, and now we got Draco… Draco… whatever the hay they are flyin' round all willy nilly…" She said with a sigh.

“Right… Well, I’ve got to get going. I guess I’ll see you round town…” He said, unsure how to answer her any differently as he began turning around.

She nodded in response and picked the bucket up and carried it back to the orchard with a faint smile playing with her lips. "Just wait till Ah tell 'Bloom bout this…" she said with a chuckle as she walked away.

As Sam walked away from the farm and through town, he idly looked at the coin called a bit. It’s stylized sun on one side, and a crescent moon stamped on the other. That was until he noticed a stand with newspapers, and a bored mare looking at the empty street. It was definitely too early for most ponies to be up and about. He made a detour, pausing in front of her.

“Got anything national?” He asked.

She looked up at him, paused, then smiled widely. "You're the one that changed my Vampony patron into a Dawnwatcher, aren't you?! She said you looked like a hairless monkey without a tail and wearing strange crystal armor, but I thought she was just joking!"

“Uh… Silver Lining? Then probably? And it’s diamond… Seriously, you got anything national? I’m trying to find a criminal.” He said, off-put by this dream’s crazy acceptance of the living dead.

"Oh, right!" She turned around, shuffling through some of her piles and mumbling a list of random items to herself before turning back around with a newspaper with the headline Mysterious fire almost breaks wall keeping out Timberwolves! Culprit still at large! written in big block letters. "This one came from a village in the forest over that way…" She said gesturing in the opposite direction of the Everfree. "Only about a day's walk from here."

“Right, how many bits?” He asked, already having a stack in his hand.

"Oh, this time's on me. Have some family out there, so I hope you catch them." She said as she slid the newspaper to him. "Good luck hunting for him!"

“Will do.” he said, nodding as he took it and walked away. He had to see twilight about some stuff, firstly, to get her to stop trying to drink herself to death every time he walked by, and also that she talked about being a princess of Equestria, so she should have some knowledge on this dark mage.

He opened the newspaper to the page about the fire, reading over it. All things considered, two found brutally murdered inside an inn wasn’t all that bad considering what his mind could have conjured up. The fire didn’t actually hurt anybody, but had caused a lot of property damage.

He looked up as he finally found his way to the center of town. If this wasn’t a dream, and he didn’t have the ability to literally make one, he’d wonder how someone could make a tree a building. He knocked on the front door, newspaper folded up by his side.

From inside he heard hurried footfalls and a brief clatter followed by hushed swearing. A tiny purple drake opened the door and stepped outside, closing it behind him and hissing in a low tone, "What is it!? Twilight's still asleep and she's going to be very irritated when she wakes up because Pinkie spiked her punch at the party yesterday!"

“Spiked her punch? She was drunk when she was forcefully thrown into the party by the bartender. I presume you’re her courtier?” He said, looking down.

"Something like that… she hatched me to become Princess Celestia's student. And she wasn't completely drunk, just tipsy. When she's actually drunk she starts shooting off magical fireworks. Inside." He said exasperated.

“Right… “ He sighed. “Look, She’s needed for some princessly duties and honestly I feel bad for her, but it’s her fault for drinking instead of dealing with the news like an adult… er… a functional adult.”

"You'd think so, but…" he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right, so I'm assuming you're here for the filly that appeared here a couple days ago?"

“Filly?” He asked, remembering the term. “Uh… not exactly, but it might be related.”

"What's up then?" He asked, still just as annoyed, but somewhat understanding now.

“Well, I’m pretty much here to deal with the dark mage that’s been free in Equestria. My sunshine,” he frowned at his own attempt to nickname Celestia. “Kinda has a promise from me to do so. So I figured instead of going to wherever Canterlot is, I’d come to the mare who claims to be her student to see if you have any leads.”

"Ah. Then yeah, you want to talk to the filly. Said her friend was the mage that appeared almost two weeks ago and that he's not as mean as Celestia says he is. Personally? I think she's just too trusting. Twilight seems to think he's a Diamond Dog that figured out how other creatures can cast magic, so she tried to save him. Not sure what happened since then though." He shrugged as he stepped back inside, leaving the door open for him as an unspoken invitation. He stepped inside, surprised at the library's worth of shelves with books on them. He looked around for where the little drake went, before shrugging and taking a seat at the reading table.

The drake soon returned, a claw on a little green unicorn filly to guide her. "I would light a candle, but with how foalish Twilight's been, I don't think that's a good idea. Anyway, this is Jade Evergreen. Sister of Aurana, the mare we're assuming he-"

"Big sis was foalnapped! Silphen hasn't done anything wrong, and… and… And he just cares too much about us!" The filly snapped, yelling loud enough to wake up Twilight who just looked at them from the top of the stairwell. She looked like she had seen better days, that much was obvious…

“Unfortunately, this… Silphen, has indeed done wrong according to the laws of Equestria.” He placed the newspaper on the table from under his arm and began to read. “'Skinny Diamond Dog starts fire in Hooferville after two were found dead in town inn.' While I haven’t been here a while, two accounts of probable murder, and a several thousand bits of property damage are pretty big crimes.”

"They were going to foalnap us, or kill us… He was trying to protect me and sis… he didn't have a choice in the matter!" She shot back, tears starting to form in her eyes. He felt bad for continuing on, but unfortunately, this filly was an eyewitness.

“Where I come from our laws on just murder are as varied as the fruits that grow on trees, so I won’t go much into that without evidence, but even still, he had knowingly started a fire on the town walls, causing half of the town to be vulnerable. I can’t find any just cause for arson. On top of his already heavy crimes of using dark magic… well, he’s got explaining to do before I even think about letting him see more than the obsidian walls of my castle, let alone roam free. So please little filly, tell me where he’s gone.” He looked at the filly in tears unblinkingly, it hurt him to be this callous, but this Silphen had already killed, and if Celestia was worried about him, that meant he was powerful enough to resort to means other than murder.

She challenged his stare with a stare of her own. Seemed she wouldn't back down from this. "He was trying to save my big sister. He once said that magic isn't evil, it's how you use it that makes it evil. I don't think he wanted to kill them, but I don't think he feels good about it either!"

“That’s the issue!” He slammed his palm on the table in irritation, his red eyes glowing in the shadows of the library. “He used it in evil ways! Murder in self defence is still murder, little filly! He could be tearing his soul in pieces for all I care, and I get his social stigma, I truly do, my fiance tried to kill me because of it, but frankly, he’s done nothing in his quest for revenge but prove everyone right.” As Sam finished his rant, the door flew open, slamming into the wall.

"Princess Twilight!" A gray mare with a bowtie shouted from the doorframe, panting heavily.

Twilight teleported onto the table and whispered in a deadly low voice, "All of you will either respect that this is a library, or you will leave. Octavia, you had better tell me what's going on. Now." She demanded in clear irritation, not bothering to be too polite at the moment.

"It… it's Vinyl. She's found the Diamond Dog dark mage and is fighting him right now! He… he was with another mare, a brown unicorn with moneybags and a bandit mask for her cutiemark!" She said in a panic.

"Aurana!" Jade shouted as she tried to make a break for it. Sam, already up, pushed her gently back down before exiting out the door, grabbing onto the top of the doorframe and swinging over the mare named Octavia. With a flip of his spellbook he launched himself up onto the nearest roof.

He ran across the rooftops with his speed spell, more like an animal than a human as he looked through his upgrade for being a level four vampire. He grabbed two which made him less susceptible to falling damage, and one which reduced the damage of him burning in the sun, which he hoped, as minecraft didn’t actually have sun mechanics, also meant fire. He activated his Bloodhunt, looking around, the form of two mares and a bipedal were a distance aways outside of the last house.

He leaped, several leaping spells took away a third of his mana as he launched himself. He took out one of the enchanted apples he had made before he went to Twilight’s, he bit into it, the gold barely phasing him as he ate the entire thing. His entire bar was full of golden hearts with one white heart at the beginning. The fire resistance and regular resistance would do nicely for this fight.

As the forms of two mares and a silver bipedal wolf came closer, he growled out into the air, his voice loud and hissing. “Dark mage Silphen!”

Silphen had been holding off Vinyl's soundwaves by simply creating a vacuum bubble around them, stopping the sound from reaching them. Each time the stream ended, he would drop and reactivate the bubble so they always had fresh air to breathe. That was, until a second figure appeared and caused Silphen to shiver slightly.

"Aurana, in that brief moment after Vinyl first hit me, I was taken to another world for two weeks. There, I met something far scarier than the tyrant that Celestia has become. But I think that…" He said as he then pointed to the flying figure, getting Vinyl to look as well. "Might just be the second worst thing I've seen. Fucking flying Minecraft Steve… Did Tia get a Token…?"

Silphen shook his head and pulled out the crossbow he hadn't thought to use back when he was with the Doom Marines and handed it to her. "Like it or not, use this on me if you suspect I'm starting to turn evil in this fight, got it? I meant what I said when I told you you had to stay safe."

“Dark mage Silphen!” Aurana nodded mutely, shivering as the hissing voice reached them. Soon, dirt obscured their vision, all that could be seen through it was the glowing blue outline of the figure who had crashed. Before the cloud could clear, Silphen had started pulling up stone to turn into armor for himself.

Even before his armor fully formed, he quickly put his arms in front of his chest, feeling them creak as it felt like he was just hit by a speeding car, sending him flying back. Silphen growled faintly, but planted his feet and slid back so the armor could finish covering him and repair the damage. He then summoned a blade of ice in one hand, a spell he had gotten very familiar with in his studies in the other world, and a shield of hyper compressed air, strong enough to, in theory, stop a meteor dead in its tracks.

Expecting a human figure to step out of the cloud, Silphen had to look twice when instead three blue orbs of pure magic shot out, fast enough to already reach him, they battered the shield fiercely, it should of held, but instead, when the sparks finally fled from his vision, the figure in front of him was like it was from video game hell. The humanlike Minecraft Steve, complete with peach fuzz, but with red eyes and fangs practically as large as his pinkie, punched the barrier hard enough that it exploded with the force of a gale. Silphen quickly swung, hoping to catch the monster, even a knick would seal his fate, but he just barely missed due to being thrown back again.

Silphen growled, feeling himself starting to slip again, but he held back long enough to instead summon a small church made of pure light. Light Sanctum prohibited hostility, provided the caster could hold it long enough for the doors to close… He didn't want to fight this other Displaced, and knew he would have problems if he did.

Sam frowned when his leg sweep did nothing more than push the dark mage back. He saw them began to open their mouth but didn’t give the mage any chances to incant a more powerful spell. He swung his pickaxe sideways, and smiled in satisfaction as the entire building made out of light shattered. Silphen's eyes widened at the sight, then he chuffed and simply grabbed his blade of ice again, having stabbed it into the ground to channel the Sanctum. Seems this was about to turn into a sword fight…

"Token!" He called out, hoping to at least catch him off guard long enough to start talking with him.

Sam charged at the mage with no hesitation, his spellbook appearing in his hand as he pushed his hand into Silphen’s chest, a quick pulse of magic and his armor disintegrated, appearing as stone in his inventory. Silphen panicked and retreated, trying to think of a material he could do that too… and realizing he'd come up short.

"Fine!" He shouted, stabbing his blade into the ground and creating a frozen field around himself, flash freezing everything within a roughly ten foot radius in a second. Sam ignored it, frowning as two and a half of his absorption hearts were taken off, and all of them were chilled, turning frosty. He grunted at the ten second timer of the chilled debuff before continuing to run towards Silphen, unaffected by the icy floor.

He used his momentum, sliding on the ice to send a good kick into Silphen’s undefended chest. He coughed up a bit of blood as the sound of ribs breaking was heard echoing throughout the frozen clearing. Silphen grabbed the vampire's leg and called on a spell he hadn't used in a long time and pushed his wounds into Sam… only to be shocked when it failed.

"You… cheater…" he said before trying to throw him back and heal himself. Sam used the throwing momentum to regain his balance, backflipping onto a perfect square of obsidian he placed down. His spellbook pages flipped as the same volley of three blue bolts of mana were sent towards Silphen, who took a deep breath and shouted, expelling enough mana into the area to forcefully dispel the orbs as he slid across the ice, intent on cutting Sam. If he could at least get a cut on him, he could die knowing he hurt a Steve Displaced.

His spellbook pages turned again as a two meter tall wall of obsidian rose up in front of Silphen. He snorted and held out a hand, expecting it to be the volcanic glass he could use for a spell, only to find out when he faceplanted into it that it was, in fact, the second hardest material in Minecraft. He stumbled back in pain as he rubbed his nose, before using an airblast to get some distance.

Sam leapt off the block of obsidian, using a single hand to flip himself over the wall he made. He could hear the wolf’s blood, feel his heartbeat. The mage was terrified, a few more knocks to the head should do it he thought. He was surprised when he crested the wall that the mage had a spell aimed directly at him.

"Suck dick!" He shouted as he sent a bolt of his own blood at Sam. It wouldn't do any harm, they both knew that, but Silphen hadn't planned for it to do so. He intended it to be a distraction so he could run in, pulling on some of the ice nearby, and cut the guy.

Hit by the projectile, he went spinning in the air before gaining control, sliding backwards on the ice before his back hit his obsidian wall. He grunted as he lashed out with his arm, parrying the blade of ice against his armor, and sent a double kick with his back against the wall into Silphen’s stomach, causing him to puke up more blood and focus on healing for a bit longer. He looked up in anger, but refused to give in.

Suddenly, he recalled an alloy from a certain comic series that was, almost, unbreakable. He went purely on the defensive, chanting as he slowly began creating the armor he needed from that alloy.

Sam was surprised to see the mage was still standing and fighting. He looked at his own strength three buff. As the mage began chanting, he finally prepared his sword, it’s hilt a solid gold, the ethereal purple blade looked more like a swirling mangled key than a blade, but he tapped the floor of ice causing the ground to shatter, leaving solid dirt in its place. The mana coming off the sword was immense, all of it congregating from the air, an impossible scene. Silphen yelped as he stumbled to the ground, falling on his ass and causing the alloy to turn to smoke and fade away.

"Fuckfuckfuckfuck!" Silphen began saying, backing away from the approaching death he saw before him. He couldn't get away, not this time… and then he felt a second mind in his own soul, trying to guide him.

'Stand up and swing that damn blade, mutt! You think I want to die either!?' The other guy said. He quickly realized who it was. That was the true Silphen Dardo.

Sam pushed off, the ground gaining a furrow or two as he was upon Silphen, his blade coming down. The wolf, despite the feral grin on the other Displaced's face, saw barely any malice, at least he didn’t before a small explosion of energy impacted Sam’s side, sending him flying and crashing towards the ground a few feet away. Looking over, Aurana had the crossbow in her magical grasp, her horn glowing. Sam hissed, the attack didn’t hurt, but he had lost four damn hearts from it.

Silphen saw this and told his other half to get out and defend her. What he didn't expect, was for him to listen. The true Silphen Dardo rose from the dirt, everything about him having changed.

"You're the one Ashton deemed worthy of our heart, little pony?" He said nonchalantly as he glanced back at her. "I must admit, you are fairly cute. Now, stay there and you'll be safe, alright?" And then she swore she could see the gravity in front of her suddenly increase.

Sam got up, noticing it was a little harder to move, but he swung his sword and nodded, noticing no difference. He looked at the wolf, this obviously wasn’t the same guy, his blood was calm and smooth. The other one barely knew how to fight, second form? Or split personality?

“So what do I call you?” He called out.

"Well, seeing as how Ashton has been using my name, I believe it's only fitting I use his. You may call me Ashton Grey. And I am the true Archmage of the Soft Metal Furred Wolves. Second highest fur, Silver breed. And you, according to his memories we shared, are a Displaced version of someone named Steve from a game called Minecraft, yes?" He answered, returning with his own question.

“Heh, no idea what a Displaced is, but you’ve got a long title, suppose mine isn’t very different. Sam Ryker, Prince Consort of Equestria, Lord of the Everfree, and Crafter of Worlds.” He said, shamelessly making up the last title.

Ashton bowed slightly, showing his respect for the man. "A pleasure. I suspect that you're not a summoned being then? One with a Token as Silphen and I have?" He then proceeded to create his Token, just without it being a proper one. "Such an unusual message too, Silphen. A… what did you call it? Green Lantern's Oath? Interesting… Well, I suppose we've done enough chitchat, yes? Shall we begin?" He then prepared himself, the blade of ice in one hand, held out as if it were a gentleman's duel, while the other, held behind himself, began preparing a Sun Moon Beam spell.

Sam didn’t hesitate to grab his only potion he had gotten as a drop from his inventory. Ignoring the time needed to drink it, and the half heart of damage he took as he shoved it in his mouth and chewed. He flipped his spellbook rapidly, three different spells, Speed, protection, and finally, as two wolves with glowing cyan eyes stepped out on either side of him. He twirled his blade, pointing it at Ashton in a silent signal to begin anew.

Ashton smirked as he waved his blade and forced the two wolves back from where they came. He couldn't do much about the buff effects, but he decided to ignore them for a moment and toy with Sam. With the same wave of his hand Sam felt gravity shift to the side and he was suddenly falling towards some trees.

Calmly, Sam’s spellbook turned, his mana, having been reduced to a third of its capacity after casting those three spells, was already back at half due to the Mana regen three effect he had for a minute. He placed a wall of obsidian, bending his knees as he landed, before launching himself, already oriented to the new gravity, at the archmage. Ashton sidestepped the swing of Sam's blade and pointed the readied spell at his face before firing. He sensed Sam wouldn't be killed by such a, normally, brutal attack but he should be hurting for it.

Ashton was surprised when Sam was able to bring his already impossible sword around and deflect the beam, Sam’s spellbook turned once more as Sam was launched mid air, headbutting Ashton.

Ashton grunted a little but flung Sam's gravity upwards for a second before increasing it to be that of TWENTY TIMES that of the Equis' standard gravity! He huffed and began preparing the armor spell Silphen had been trying to cast earlier, sighing when Mist, his sentient spell assistant, informed him it would take a full minute of chanting to get the spell work to flow properly in this world. "Yes, thank you, Mist, I was already aware of this fact."

Sam, seeing the ground approaching, took out his ultimate weapon. As he was a few feet from the ground, the sound of splashing water made Ashton look over. Sam had landed safely in a one meter square of water safely.

"Huh… That… shouldn't be possible, according to the laws of reali-... Surely you jest, Silphen… Well, then! Seeing as how slamming you into the ground won't incapacitate you, Sam, and you can't harm me yourself, shall we call a truce and speak like civilized beings? Or shall we continue this dance until you run out of whatever is allowing you to keep up with someone who has enough mana to flood worlds with it?" Ashton asked, preparing to shift Sam's gravity in the opposite direction of the floating obsidian wall he was decidedly ignoring at the moment.

“I guess that means you’re willing to submit to my ruling on your punishment? Besides, the fight was getting boring, is that all you do? Throw people around?” Sam asked, gathering the water back into his bucket and turning his pages, suddenly his body was flooded with pure mana, causing whatever gravity affect on him to dissipate.

"Interesting… but no, I am… rather unused to trying to keep a target alive. Seems Silphen doesn't want me using all the powers I have at my disposal. I could have ended this the moment I stepped forward, but it seems he wishes for us to stop using magic to kill, and only to defend. Ourselves and others." Ashton replied, letting the gravity field disperse as he did.

“Quite frankly, I don’t really care, but as far as i can tell, it’s too late, at least two confirmed deaths, and however many more haven’t been discovered yet, means that while my Fiance’s views on you are extreme, you still need some form of justice.”

"Oh, I wasn't going to argue that detail. The first two deaths were completely unnecessary, and he could've let the minotaur he killed return to the lands from which he came. Instead, Silphen lost himself to his rage and sorrow and heartache at not being able to defend Miss Aurana there from being kidnapped. And by a rather notorious bandit lord if the souls of his fallen 'tools' are to be believed." Ashton said taking a careful step forward, knowing that any sudden moves would spark the fight to return in full swing once more.

Sam sighed, letting his sword return to wherever it goes when he no longer has it selected. Quite frankly, talking to this guy was annoying, since he spoke in such a formal tone, like a businessman, or someone who frankly just never cared.

“Right… let’s get Silphen back out here, he’s the one who actually did it.” He finally said, shaking his head.

Ashton bowed once more before stumbling as he pulled Silphen back to the front. "-are you…?! Shit! Don't kill me, please!" He begged, clearly panicking once more.

“Look, it’s been a long day, and quite frankly I’m not sure how I’ve dreamed up several of what I’ve witnessed, but you?” he sighed. “Look, Sunshine isn’t all that bad… she just has issues, besides, after all this, I’ll be determining your punishment.”

"Not that- she tried to give my fucking soul a ta- wait you're going to determine what happens, not the kill happy tyrant?" Silphen asked, so caught off guard by everything that's happened today that he briefly had a mental short circuit and took a second to realize what he said.

“I’d ask you not to call my fiance names… but yeah. I’m almost sad, been here awhile, pretty sure I’m going to wake up soon.” He said, almost sad that this entire world would be gone when he woke up. It was better than what he had back in the real world.

Silphen winced slightly. "So uh… not sure how to tell you this, but… You already are awake. You bought a thing from a guy at a con, right? Then woke up here?" He asked nervously, trying to be delicate about the situation.

“No that can’t… you sure? Cause the symptoms are there? I can’t feel pain, things pretty much go right for me, and this whole world is too crazy not to be a dream, I mean, talking ponies?” He chuckled sarcastically.

"Sam… if you're in a dream, then I'm in a never ending nightmare. You have a Token already?" Silphen asked, trying to use that to prove his point. "Or do you even know how they're made?"

“Wait… you mean that… Admin command, give item Displaced underscore Token Silphen, one.” He stared at his hand, the grass sigil Ashton had made earlier appearing in his hand and making him feel calm while the words of the Green Lantern's Oath filled his head. Silphen, however, winced slightly at the sight of it and looked away, ashamed.

Sam took a deep breath… “Fuuuuuuuuuu-”

As Celestia and Luna were having breakfast, the duo looked up at each other, then to the open window in confusion.

"Sister, do you hear that…?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, it almost sounds like…" Celestia started, pausing as she quickly realized who it was…

"-uuuUUUUUUUCK!"

"Damn, dude, you got some lungs on ya…" Silphen said, rubbing his wolf ears gently.

“...I knocked up a horse goddess…” He said, stunned.

"You wut." Silphen asked, dumbfounded by the rather nonchalant declaration.

“Remember when I said Celestia’s my fiance… fuck! I gotta worry- wait, what do I have to worry about? They’re going to be royalty when they grow up, that means we pretty much have all the wealth needed to raise them. Education isn’t an issue, neither would we have no time for them… But what if they don't get the proper morals set early on in life? What if after watching us they become snooty or something, they’d be an awful ruler, I’d have to do something to correct that and I don’t-”

"Ok! Sam! Sit down, shut up, and calm your tits. The fact you're this worked up means you're going to be fine." Ashton shouted, shoving himself to the forefront once more. "I may be calm and cold most of the time, but I know the troubles and worries of having to raise a pu- a… child, is it? Yes, a child. And lose them…" he shook his head to get rid of those thoughts. "Point is, you're going to be fine, got it? And some advice from one dad to another? Love them. No matter what happens, or what you have to punish them for, love them unconditionally. Understand?"

“Right… Right… Anyways, we got about less than ten minutes now before, oddly, love of my life that she is, Celestia, comes down here to deal with you. So let’s get this moving and I can deal with her killing me over and over for the decision afterwards.” He said, composing himself.

Ashton nodded and let Silphen take control again. Groaning in pain and holding his head slightly. "Note to self, let the switches happen… So you said you were the Lord of the Everfree? Right? So where's your castle…?" Silphen asked, trying to deal with his headache.

“Celestia’s old castle, anyways… You’ll be seeing a lot more of it, because first, as a declaration of you being, on technicality, one of my kind, don’t tell celestia you aren’t though. I’m declaring you my court wizard or whatever job title you want in that vein, declaring you part of my jurisdiction, and I’ll come up with some suitable punishment later, probably something involving tedious magic use, or some sort of community service. Right now I doubt I could come up with something clever that would mollify Equestria.” He rubbed his head, a headache of his own forming now that he decided not to imprison this guy in an obsidian cell.

"Right… you mind if I send Aurana to her sister first though? Pretty sure she's the most confused out of the lot of us…" Silphen said, glancing back at the thoroughly confused mare trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

“Right… actually, just have her run there, pretty sure any magic use is going to be heavily scrutinized right now. You too Miss Vinyl, Octavia’s waiting for you at Twilight's home, take Aurana with you, pretty sure her sister is the filly there.” He waved them off.

Aurana turned to the white unicorn mare, who had done the same. Vinyl shrugged and turned to leave, understanding that the two beings in front of her were far above her pay grade. Aurana looked back to Silphen and Sam, then down at the crossbow she still had a hold of. It was already loaded with another shot. She just let it fall, pointing it at the ground as she followed Vinyl back to Ponyville in a daze.

"Thanks…" Silphen said as he watched them leave. "I'm guessing you're going to take me through the Nether back to your base?"

“Fuck no, I haven’t even made a portal yet, let alone gone in one… Actually, I kinda gotta wait here, and probably should make a bed too.” He said, already setting a crafting table down.

"Ah… I guess that means I should play dead then…" Silphen said, laying down in the dirt, face down.

“Nah, get up. I don’t know what relationships you’ve been in, but I’m not building a marriage on lies.” He said as the blocks of wool and wood flowed in his hands like liquid as he assembled them into proper shape. “She’s going to be really pissed… But every marriage requires compromise.”

Silphen gulped but got back up, nervously watching the skies for the White Horse of Solar Destruction and Death. "You sure about this…? Have you actually died yet…?"

“Twenty-six times. One of which was by her, then we had make up sex.” He said casually as he placed the bed down, setting his spawn.

Silphen laughed nervously at that. "Bet there was an achievement for that. Regal Conception or some shit…"

And that was when he saw her descending like the fiery ball of wrath he had come to know her as. "Sam! Are you ok?! Did he kill you!?" But her being concerned for Sam threw him off guard.

He smiled gently, not at all like a man who knew his fiance was about to murder him repeatedly.

“Not at all! He was quite easy to beat honestly.” Sam put up a hand behind his back, cutting off any protests from Silphen, as he stepped closer to Celestia, cupping her cheek in his free hand. “I was just detailing his punishment, My Sunshine.”

Celestia blushed a little, then noticed the single bed behind him. "Sam…? What was his punishment…?" She asked cautiously, starting to take a step back.

“...Temporary confinement in my castle…” He said, not attempting to keep her from moving away.

Her eye twitched. Her horn glowed a brilliant yellow… and Sam's face felt warm for a second before he found himself on his back, in the bed. "TEMPORARY!?" She yelled once he had reformed… only to blast him a second time.

He rolled out of bed before it hit him, landing on his feet. “Now Sunshine, let’s talk civil-” He was staring up at the sky again. “-ly."

"Civilly? CIVILLY!? Sam, that is, in your own words, someone who enjoys destroying for the simple fact that he can! Add to that the fact he's using magic far more corrupt and evil than what you are, and he should be banished from this land! Not held in temporary confinement!" Celestia shouted, blasting him a third time as he got up.

He rolled off the bed after he died again, rolling once more as a second beam hit where he rolled off to.

“Just let me explain-” He ducked, only for her to lower her horn and have the beam slice him instead of blast him. He loved that mare somehow, but he was getting tired of being blinded by the sky.

"Then explain while I keep putting holes in your head, since you clearly don't have a brain!" She said, tears starting to threaten to roll down her face as she watched him accept death, after death, after death, and not seem to care about how hurt she was by his betrayal.

“If I had any brains I wouldn’t love you!” He shouted in between her blasts. This caused her to stop, shocked by his blatant disregard.

"You… but…" Celestia then rested a hoof on her stomach, heartbroken.

“I- Shit, I didn’t mean like- Sunshine-” He stuttered as he got out of bed, staggering over to her.

She stepped away from him, her eyes wide with sorrow. "And yet, you said it…" she shook her head and turned to fly off. And Sam could've swore he saw her crying as she left.

He looked down… He didn’t mean it like that, but, ever since he came here, he had been treating everything as ephemeral, ready to disappear in a moment's notice… Did he truly love her? He couldn’t say, but he looked back at the bed. He had lost count of how many times he let her kill him, how many times he did nothing but stand there and let her release her rage and anguish on him…

He unequiped all his armor, his spellbook pages flapping wildly as he developed a different spell, a form of self, glyph of launch, three of amplify, and one of bounce… And when it was finished, he looked at the speck that was Celestia and launched himself.

Celestia was surprised when Sam impacted her, causing her to honk like a swan for a second, wrapping his arms around her back as they fell towards the ground, he cut off her screaming with a kiss. She was surprised that instead of this being some convoluted way to kill her, he bounced like a rubber ball, not even flinching as with each bounce they slowed more and more to a stop, until he was lying under her, his eyes closed, and their lips locked.

"S-Sam!?" She said in shock when he finally let her go. "W-what the Tartarus was that!?"

“Proof that I never had any brains to begin with… But I don’t need them to know that I love you.” He said, a small smile on his face.

She blinked, then smiled and kissed him. "You're insane, Sam. Thank you… But you do realize I have to send you back to that Griefer the express way, right?"

“He’s not going anywhere, trust me… And besides, what happened to that century old tension?” He smirked, circling her cutiemark with his pointer fingers, causing her to shiver and blush.

"You, sir, are a tease. Strip." Celestia commanded, getting up off of him. He nodded, flinging his shirt off him with more ease than the first time. His pants were second to go, removing them with practiced ease. They were really his only two articles of clothing, as apparently Minecraftians didn’t believe, or need, underwear.

"Mmm~... That's much better, Sam…" Celestia said as she came over to him, using her magic to remove her golden regalia. "Though I do hope you're ready for… wait, can you… you know…? I noticed last time but didn't think anything of it at the time…"

“Considering I’ve been awake for two whole weeks, I’m pretty sure my stamina is infinite, so you have your work cut out for you.” he smirked cupping her cheek.

Celestia winced slightly but kissed him. "Let me know when you're ready to blow then, and I'll help you there, ok~? Can't have my mate pent up if I'm getting release, now can I~?" She giggled and pushed him, gently, to the ground again.

“Will do Sunshine.” He said as he let her push him down. Quite frankly, he was worried that he’d have trouble after becoming the living dead, but apparently all systems were a go, if his full mast was anything to go by.

She smiled then pressed herself up against his shaft again, moaning a little at the sensation of being filled once again…

With a golden glow and the sound of a pop, Sam was dumped unceremoniously onto the hard, battleworn ground, a second later his clothes floated down after him. He mumbled as he got up before bending down to pick up his pants, completely aware that his lower half was soaked.

"Oh hey, you're- DUDE WHAT THE HELL!? Put something on, your lower half looks like it got dipped in a pool!" Silphen cried out as he started to get up before noticing that he was covered in a clear viscous liquid from around his waist down.

“Quit your complaining, I was already on it… And it’s not my fault immortals get really into it.” He said as he pulled up his pants, grabbing his shirt before it blew away in the slight breeze.

Silphen simply grumbled and shook his head. "Lucky fucker… Oh, and in case you lost track, she killed you eight more times. You're up to thirty-four."

"Yeah, I don't think the pegasi that flew over us at Celestia's fifth orgasm thought the same." He shook his head, putting his shirt on.

"Dude. TMI. But whatever. Think we should head back to your castle thing so you can throw me in an obi cage?" Silphen asked, expecting him to either command teleport them or use ender pearls.

"...You know when I said temporary confinement, I meant it. We're going back there, I'm making you some sort of court wizard, and you get the joy of hemorrhaging at the impossibility that is my magic." He said as he walked past Silphen. He groaned as he got up to follow, putting away the Timberwolf Cores he was trying to study.

Author's Note

For those curious about what happened at the end of the last chapter, go read FIGHT LIKE HELL, FIGHT LIKE DOOM MARINES!. Did a crossover with them.

Chapter 12 (C/O)

Sam sighed as Gilded Clover, who claimed to descend from some cousin of Clover the clever, another pony he had no idea who they were, started another long story about her personal life. He looked out the window at the fake grass that littered the lawn. It had been an entire month since Silphen and Sam had fought, and really, not much had happened. He was much too busy playing catch up with Equestrian policy and laws, and his rhetoric was fine, thank you very much Silphen.

Celestia still hadn’t announced their engagement, or the fact she was pregnant. She couldn’t keep hiding it forever though, while Ponyville knew the truth due to one pink mare, and news did travel slowly in Equestria, already the Canterlot rumor mill was running around the idea. It was partially why he was here, at the gentlestallions club with Silphen, who was off doing who knows what. The fact that Celestia was starting to form her baby bump didn’t help matters.

"...and then I received a message to come here and speak with you, saying, 'Fuego demands payment'! Crazy, yes?" Gilded said with a chuckle as he finished his story.

“... Right, riveting story Gilded..” He half heartedly applauded with the rest of the hoofstamps from the surrounding nobles. He really didn’t know why he agreed to these invitations. Wait, he did, it was the publicity. The more he was seen hanging out with affluential ponies, the better his engagement reveal would be.

"So, Sam, was it? What was your story anyway?" One of the older stallions asked him.

“Prince Sam, I understand how you ponies like to use titles. Well, my kind are travelers, hopping from place to place, usually fighting for our right to build wonders more marvelous than your fair city.” He said, waving his hand to emphasise his meaning.

Several of the patrons chuckled nervously and shifted in their seats at the declaration he was a royal. "Indeed? And what makes your lot different from a tyrant like the Mad Mage himself?" The stallion asked, clearly unbothered by the title. "After all, you did take in that dark mage that appeared a month or so ago."

“I will presume this mad mage is a terrible pony who has done some awful stuff. And I’ll say nothing. In fact, giving you empty assurances that my kind is superior to yours would be like you telling me that if I desperately needed it, you would transfer your entire net worth to me. Nopony will believe you. The dark mage that appeared, I assure you, truly wished he was dead after he entered my castle.” Although he didn’t add on the fact that it was Silphen’s alter ego that had caused him that pain. Apparently, when you shove fundamental rules of complex magical interaction out the window, old geezers get crotchety.

The stallion chuckled as he leaned back. "Wise. And yes, the Mad Mage was Celestia's old lover. He was a conqueror and a dark mage of the highest caliber yet recorded. It's only thanks to Princess Luna," he tapped his pendant bearing a crescent moon as he said this. "That her sister even bothered to see his corruption and put an end to him."

“Why, “ he searched his memory for the stallion’s name. “Shining Bit, I’d almost think you believe the wild rumors going about Celestia's pregnancy with talk of long dead lovers like this.”

Bit smirked devilishly. "An old colleague of mine works for her. Says she's been pacing her room in the evening muttering your name and the words 'engagement' like a mare possessed. So unless it is her sister, her married niece, or her student, all of whom are quite clear on their preferences, I would be hard pressed not to believe them."

“I do not believe I have found any reference to Celestia’s sister’s preference in the archives except for a reference to an old poem in which she declares herself lost in a sea of ponies.” He sighed, downing his entire glass. Pony liquor was strong, but apparently the immortal body of a Minecraftian makes alcohol balk at it. “Suppose the length of her delay has truly made it difficult to suppress. And to be honest, subterfuge is never my style. Yes, me and Celestia are engaged. She seems to be fretting about a new topic every day to delay the announcement. Just a week ago, she worried about the power shift of her and I being named a queen and king, but as far as I can tell, the titles are nominal only!”

The rest of the stallions looked at him in shock. And Shining Bit's cigar fell from his mouth as he heard what Sam said. "You… You truly are-"

Suddenly a flash of light appeared from behind Sam, causing the stallion's eyes to cloud over and turn blank as Silphen said, "Sam, try to keep from breaking these ones. It was hard enough containing her nightly visits to your castle for the past month. Also doesn't help that the titles 'King' and 'Quuen' here are the equivalent of Slave Owner back home."

“Oh you know she’s just making excuses at this point, besides, if the title is so bad, why is there even that provision in Equestria’s laws! And don’t tell me because it’s never come up, obviously something had to have come up to have the law so specific. ‘When a princess of Equestria marries a prince, they rise to the nominal title of king and queen!’ Seriously! I don’t understand pony royalty!” He threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, much to the amusement of Silphen. Who simply sniffed with a smirk and pointed upward, silently telling him who to complain to about how weird it was.

"You know what I'm about to say…" he said with a faint bit of mirth in his voice.

“And you know I’ve already taken that advice and was summarily shot down. But I’m serious, rumors in Equestria move by word of mouth, so they’re incredibly slow, but even Canterlot is starting to believe that Celestia is having the child of a dark mage, and that he’ll be the bringer of the twelfth apocalypse, whatever that means.” Sam said, purposefully using one of the more outlandish rumors spreading around.

Silphen shrugged, stepping around to put the cigar back in Shining Bit's mouth before stepping back behind Sam and dropping the MIB flash, as he called it, the stallions returning to laughing as if Sam had just told a joke. "Sir, it's time for us to return to your castle. That project should be finished by now." He said, using the words Ashton told him to say. Between himself and the true Archmage, the other guy was the better and being formal and still telling someone to go fuck themselves.

"Ah, a shame then. Perhaps next time you can stay longer, Sa- Prince," Gilded said, looking around the circle of seats pointedly, "Sam. Truly was riveting hearing the story of your people. Minecraftian was it?"

“Yes, apologies for my brevity, but this project is truly an important one.” He said as he got up and walked out of the club with Silphen.

"Sorry about pulling you out sooner than normal, but part of the reason I came back was that Silver Lining finally woke up from her cleansing ritual. Turns out that your Lineage, summarily called Dawnwatcher's, lose their resistance to the sun the more blood they drink in return for not truly having an upper limit to their strength. And it looks like the higher their Vampony tier, level in your case, the longer they're out cold when they get cleansed. So I'd recommend either staying as a Vamp, or getting cleansed yourself soon," Silphen explained, holding out a scroll with a wax starburst and a small bit of green fire burning eternally on the ribbon. Twilight had devised the method of the enchanted ribbon to always have a bit of Spike's message fires so she could send messages to him and Sam in secret without alerting Celestia.

To both of their surprises, Twilight was studying dark magic herself in secret. Ashton suspected she was teleporting herself and those she took to a pocket dimension to avoid tainting her soul since she always came back just as pure as before.

"And what's the other part?" Sam asked.

"The other part is that she apparently had a choice to return to being a pony or stay as a Dawnwatcher Lineage. She chose to stay as a Dawnwatcher," he said with a sigh, still holding out the scroll.

"Of course she did…" he muttered as he took the scroll, obviously, Silphen hadn't read it, or he was being seriously cautious about prying ears. He opened it up and read it.

"Well, I can already see some differences." He started as he looked at the red six above his hotbar. It took a monumental amount of blood, or just a higher quality, to actually increase. And he couldn't exactly go around draining each pony he met, and the monsters of the Everfree were getting wise to the signs of his passing, few that he left. "For one, she describes that all of her upgrades are instinctual, and that a weakness to fire is still present."

"The part that worries me most is the voice she said she heard that she said, in her own words, felt angelic. If that's true then we might have a third Displaced locked away somewhere watching your progress." Silphen said, pointing to a part that was talking about cake and Discord. "And then the fact she turned golden for a few moments before she woke up again."

"Feeling angelic, and being so are two different things. Hell, you have no idea how I do half the shit I do, for all we know, I'm some sort of prison for an ancient evil, and the moment I truly die, we get the second coming of herobrine." He closed the scroll, already having read through it.

"Sweet Artemis, I hope not… You're bad eno- what?" Silphen stopped, turning his head to the side, the unspoken sign he was talking to his other half. "Yes, I know you could kill Sam… No, you can't fight him again!... Why? How about the fact that I like breathing."

"Assuming he's talking about killing me, I know you've told me a little about your magics that affect souls and all… but he is aware my entire thing about an immortal soul is bullshit, right? For all we know, you try and destroy my soul, I respawn."

"And not only that, but I know those spells wouldn't work on you right now because the wound transfer spell didn't work when we fought the first time. Works on a similar principle to Soul magic… What do you mean mist could help!?... Oh, M157… Right, right… Yeah, that might work… But he'd have to accept a handicap. And if he really will spawn Herobrine…? Well, just take a look at the memories of the lore he has." Silphen said before turning back to Sam. "Sorry about all that. Seems he's underestimating the sheer force of power Herobrine holds if he has unfettered control over the modpack you got Displaced with…"

"He's an old man, he probably doesn't understand the words 'more powerful than literal gods'... Speaking of gods… Celestia is wanting to have a treaty signing officially announcing 'Minecraftians.'" Sam made air quotes. "I'm thinking of announcing our engagement afterwards, regardless of what she says."

"She'll likely be too embarrassed to shoot you. Or take her public image into account and break her bed with you. Again." Silphen said coyly, chuckling as Sam punched his arm. There were days he was glad he had turned his fur into something vaguely resembling leather armor now…

"I'm serious Silphen…" he said heavily after he stopped chuckling "Her pregnancy is getting noticeable now. And she's not that sneaky, regardless of what she thinks. The nobles are catching on… and not in a good way. I know you don't much care for noble gossip, but many of them are hoping that Celestia and Luna will one day retire."

"Shit… That means assholes like Blueballs would get put on the throne instead of someone who knows what the fuck they're doing… Yeah, it might be best to do that, consequences be damned," Silphen sighed. "At least she can't stay mad at you. Still blames me for the village wall… Man, how the hell was I supposed to know it wouldn't warp the wood? Only thing I could understand from it, and Ashton whispering in my head at the time now that I think about it, was that it would help me get out. Wasn't expecting it to call down a lightning bolt…"

"Even worse, some of them have their sights set on Twilight." He said, letting the implications go unworded. "She's still blaming you for a lot of things… half of them entirely unrelated, like her cake material shortage."."

"Alright, that one was Jade. She does know that, right?" Silphen asked, stepping onto the teleportation pad he and Twilight had set up a couple weeks ago.

"If she does, I haven't told her… I'm using it as an excuse to cut down on her sugar intake." He said, stepping up after him.

"You're evil." Silphen said, trying his best not to smile and laugh. "Now, what should we do about the rumors of the heart in the middle of the forest? That book was oddly vague…"

"Well, first we need a map of to Everfree to even know where that is… any idea where one is mr. 'We're in a cartoon'?" Sam couldn't entirely believe that, as everything looked real to him., and he really only had one sample size.

Silphen groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He'd been trying to tell Sam where they were, but he didn't seem to want to believe him. Or was just unable to do to how real everything looked. "My best guess would be to ask Night Mother, but… Er, Luna. Stop fucking doing that, Ashton."

"Seriously? Equestria has been a power on the world map for a thousand years, and existed even before that, and nobody has decided to try to live there, let alone explore it?" Sam asked incredulously.

"To be fair, it started off as a grove and just kinda kept expanding. The Castle of the Twin Sisters used to be in a city," Silphen explained.

"Right… well, back on the- hold on a minute. The tribal pony." Sam began turning back before stopping, remembering his first encounter with ponykind.

"Tribal pony…? Uh… The only creature that can talk that should be here is Zecora, a Zebra alchemist and herbalist that rhymes all the damn time and never speaks in direct answers." Silphen said, following after him, before pausing as he saw three very distinct shadows on the ground.

"That was not a zebra. Those stripes didn't even meet!" Sam sighed. "Your turn or mine?"

"Think it was yours." Silphen replied as he took a step back just as three fillies leapt down.

"CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS BOUNTY HUNTERS, YAY!" They shouted all wielding custom made weapons. Applebloom had a set of retractable hoof blades resembling katar on her forelegs. Sweetie Belle, the only one that could be an actual threat even now, was using blunted chakram. And Scootaloo had somehow turned the wing extensions Silphen and Sam had suggested she make into buzzsaws… Luckily they were all hastily made and of very poor quality so even if the other two got lucky, they wouldn't be able to do much more than bruise.

Sam sighed as he took out his shovel, the diamond head glowing. The trio smiled up at him in excitement.

Sweetie Belle lead the charge by throwing her chakram at Sam's shovel, intent on keeping him from swinging at her friends with it. Applebloom and Scootaloo charged in to close the distance, the latter keeping her wings safely held to her sides to avoid hitting Bloom.

Sam parried the chakram, at the end of his single motion hitting the dirt beside Applebloom’s hooves. The filly was surprised when instead of just digging into the dirt, an entire meter square underneath her was suddenly gone, causing her to trip and hit the soft path muzzle first.

Scootaloo looked over, distracted by Applebloom falling over… And suddenly had the chakram smack her in the face and made her fall down in return. Sweetie Belle winced as she pulled her weapon back, glad she brought the blunted one now instead of her actual weapon… "Silphen would have been so mad…" she whispered as she faced Sam alone. Again.

"So… We lose?" She asked, still spinning the disk in her telekinetic grasp, waiting for him to come closer. He sighed as he placed the block of dirt in front of her, the square block came up to the tip of her horn, blocking her vision. He stepped forward and hit the ground underneath her causing her to fall in a similar hole to Applebloom. Sweetie Belle squeaked in surprise as her concentration was shattered, making her drop the practice weapon.

“Yes, next time, make sure your shadows don’t land in front of us.” He said, genuinely feeling bad for the fillies. These fights were just never fair.

"That's not fair!" Scootaloo shouted, being the first to recover. "If Sweetie Belle's frisbee-"

"Chakram." Applebloom corrected from her hole, too ashamed to bother getting out.

"Whatever! If it hadn't hit me in the face I could have distracted you so Sweetie Belle could touch you with it!" Scootaloo kept on, clearly bitter that they had lost to such a clumsy mistake.

"And how well do you think you could have done that, Scoots? Your buzzsaw wings, were they actually bladed, would be a thing to fear… But you barely know how to use them." Silphen said from a nearby tree limb, watching the show from up high.

“Also, never assume what your opponent will do. For example,” Sam said as he hit his jugular with his shovel, smirking as the fillies flinched, and not even a white line was left on his skin after he removed it. His sixteen and a half hearts went down by half a heart in the demonstration.

"Sam and I are basically unkillable as you three are right now. I'd suggest getting actual weapons and fighting Timberwolf pups, but that might not end too well. Sweetie Belle, what did you do wrong?"

"I didn't curve the chakram when pulling it back to me…" she replied solemnly.

Silphen looked down at the glaring Scootaloo, who would occasionally glance at the base of the tree he was in. "Scoots?"

She sighed before sitting down and looking away as she answered, "I was distracted when Sam broke the dirt under Applebloom and didn't see Sweetie Belle's frisbee-"

"Chakram." The other two fillies corrected her.

"Frisbee. I didn't see it coming at me." She said leveling a silent glare that promised tickles unending.

"Bloom, I don't think I can-"

"I kept running rather than jumping over the hole," the last filly said from her hole, finally starting to climb out with the help of Sweetie Belle.

“I’d like to see how you can jump mid air with no magic. Regardless, Silphen, this has been enough of a distraction, heal their bruises and let’s get going.” Sam said, his shovel nowhere to be seen.

"Yessir." Silphen said, leaping out of the tree and floating down. He first placed a hand on Applebloom, who had a little bit of road rash from her grinding halt in her hole. Next was Scootaloo who was trying to keep her slowly forming black eye as a trophy to show off to Rainbow Dash, but was distracted by one hand while the other darted in and healed the little pegasus, much to her dismay. Sweetie Belle accepted her check up, and Silphen turned to Sam and shrugged, not having found anything that needed to be healed since she fell a short distance straight down onto her hooves. "Done. Off to Zecora the zebra's house?"

“Still refuse to call that thing a zebra. But yeah.” Sam said, waiting for Silphen to lead the way.

"Well too bad. She's a zebra." Silphen said as he quickly began heading out for the herbalist's tree hut thing that she lived in. "Besides, they don't have lions to contend with here, so the stripes aren't for protection!"

“First of all, that protection thing isn’t confirmed, pretty sure.” He countered, walking behind Silphen.

"It makes the lions see a shifting mass of black and white and scares them off, so it is protection." Silphen argued.

“Still think that’s bullshit, a lion wouldn’t be scared by colors.”

"Scares off plague flies, scares off lions. Logic checks out." Silphen shot back with a shit eating grin.

“Now I know you’re making it up, and you just claimed lions are as dumb as insects.” Sam shook his head.

"No, it's true! They sedated a fly, and placed it in a container over some zebra print. When it woke up it began trying to escape, refusing to land on the print. When they slid it off so it could 'land' on a solid white area, it seemed to calm down and land for a few seconds before flying again!"

“Still doesn’t explain how lions would be afraid of it. Again, flies are way different than lions.” Sam said, trying to get back to the main argument.

"It's because they're scared off by other animals bigger than them. They wouldn't be able to see where one zebra ends and the next one begins. Therefore, while they would rush at the herd, it's more to see if it is one massive animal, or if it's a large animal protecting a whole bunch of smaller prey! They're scared off by it!"

“Both of you are wrong. My stripes a sign I don’t belong.” The deep rhyming accent caught both of them off guard. Looking over, the Zebra in question was standing there, saddle packs over her withers as she stared at the two.

"Hey, Zecora. A pleasure to finally meet you. Mind elaborating what you mean by that? Because we were talking zebra's from a different world." Silphen said, explaining what the argument was over.

“My stripes are painted on. A sign my home I may never tread upon.” She answered. “A different world you say? What does this fiction portray?”

“Ixnay on the displaced ey, Celestia’s really the only one who knows we come from another world, and even then, we start talking about other worlds, the ponies are going to start invading other realities like a cute warhammer 40k.” Sam whispered to Silphen, making him sputter to keep from laughing.

"Discord would approve. And besides, she's technically a resident of your domain now, so…"

“Your words I can hear, but their meaning still isn’t clear.” Zecora spoke up, causing Sam to jump.

“Right… Minecraftians,” Sam said, pointing at the two of them. “Go from world to world building wonders and sometimes civilizations.”

“Seems like an exciting life, but one filled with strife. Was there a reason you were coming this way? Or is your sense of direction in disarray?”

"Actually we were coming to try and find you. Do you think you could make us a map of the Everfree? Or know someone that could?" Silphen asked, his tone turning serious now that they were getting to business again.

“A map you need, a reason why before we proceed.” The rhyming Zebra intoned.

“The heart of the forest. I need to get some materials from there.” Sam explained. Of course, he wasn’t about to say that the materials he needed were undead souls, as he couldn’t do much against magic users without it. Plus, he hoped to make the nether portal there, so that if anything came out of it, it had a horde of undead to go through before it then had to go through the forest full of monsters.

“A place of dread you seek. I fear if I give you directions, your outcome will be bleak.”

"I have my spells to deal with them. Both light and dark. So they won't be a problem for me. And Sam here is a beast with a blade, so they won't even be able to touch him unless he wants them to." Silphen explained, showing her what he meant by creating a shadow skeleton and then blasting it away with holy energies.

“You forget that I’m also undead. Just cause I no longer have the nasty fangs and red eyes, doesn’t mean my heart is still beating. As far as I know, the undead don’t really attack the undead.” Sam said.

“I doubt you will be persuaded otherwise.” The zebra mare sighed. “But if you went without my help and died, my own values I would have to analyse.”

The mare turned and started trotting back the way she came. Both Sam and Silphen ignored the fact that due to how her tail was positioned, that when she turned they saw under it. Soon they came up to a shamanistic looking tree with a door put at the base. Zecora pushed the door open, looking back for them to walk inside.

As they did so, The place smelled of something pungent, The first room was pretty bare, the only space taken up was the walls, filled with masks and baubles. Two rooms could be seen through carved doorways, the first one containing a bed with some sort of spotted leather blanket? The second had shelves filled with potion bottles, or at least they assumed so. The center of that room was filled with a fireplace lined with dirt and stone, a large cauldron half the size of Zecora sat above it.

"Have you been there yourself, Zecora? Or was it just too dangerous, even for you?" Silphen asked, genuinely curious. He knew she could survive the occasional manticore, but a horde of undead? Different story.

“Of course I haven’t set hoof in such an evil place, Mad you’d have to be, expecting the grove to show any grace. Warning signs I spotted though, there the timberwolves do overflow.” She spoke as she looked throughout the tree for the map. Sam saw her open up a box with some sort of necklace with a red ruby stylized with wings and a horse head with a horn before closing it and tossing it into a corner.

“What was that?” he asked curiously, alicorns, as Silphen had told him what ponies with wings and horns were called, were apparently a really big symbolism thing, and never lightly used. Kinda like stylizing something in the shape of a deity.

“An evil object that grants you power, wear it too long, and your goodness it will devour.” She said, not even looking back. Sam was really curious, but thought that it could wait until they got back to ask more about it. Since he had woken up here, he found that things that tried to affect him merely became debuffs, as a quite unsuccessful mind control attempt by Silphen, on Sam’s request, showed.

"The Alicorn Amulet," Silphen said, making an effort to avoid snatching it. "Will take as much as you get. It's a very nasty thing. Not surprised it's here as well… Think of it like the Carnage symbiote from that one world."

“So mind control? Also Carnage?” Sam asked, confused. Silphen’s response was interrupted as with an “ah.” Zecora produced a piece of parchment in her mouth. She came on over and Sam took it, looking at the crudely drawn map. It outlined the forest, with markers like her hut, the castle, and even ponyville. Several other places were also marked with what he guessed were names of herbs. Apparently the swamp, simply named bogg, took up half the forest, and the danger zone, listed as Heart of the forest, was literally north of the bogg. Off the trail to the castle by what he estimated to be a mile. He’s literally run over the top of it before.

“That’s… surprisingly close to the path… I thought you said Timberwolves swarmed the place? How come travel- wait, don’t answer that.” He stopped himself, remembering that nobody actually visited his castle, and all the timberwolves were now too scared of him to actually accost him.

“Well, with this we now know where we’re going. It’s pretty easy to get to, hell, I’ve ran over the top of it before.” He said as he turned towards Silphen, who was smiling faintly and shaking his head.

"Only you would think running over the area is normal. Whatever, let's get going. Thank you, Zecora. We'll come back to seal that artefact in a proper vault at a later date, alright?" He said to the zebra, jerking his head towards the chest with the amulet still inside.

“I assure you, the amulet is perfectly safe with me, it is your own safety that I cannot guarantee.” The zebra mare said, beginning to put things back. The two left, as they only had to cross a small stretch of the forest before reaching the path to the castle. An hour on that and they turned right into the underbrush. The forest here was more wild than that of the path, as plant’s competed with each other for the small bits of sunlight that came through the canopy like snakes intertwining.

At several points they had seen a few timberwolves, but they had growled and backed off on seeing Sam. While they were in this forest they couldn’t be killed, but Sam had gotten very good at one shotting them before they could even get close to hurting him. The Underbrush eventually thinned, before disappearing entirely, the area being drowned in pitch blackness, and the trees became gnarled and twisted as they reached for the canopy, competing with each other for all the sunlight they could get.

“Think this is it?” Sam whispered. The entire area was silent, even the sound of wind through the leaves was absent.

Silphen grunted, eyeing one of the trees warily. He didn't like this place, and his every instinct was telling him that he was surrounded. As both light and sound had gone, so too had scent. He couldn't even smell Sam who was right in front of him. "It's quiet… and scentless… Everything is screaming that we're surrounded…" Silphen whispered back.

“Pretty sure that’s…” He trailed off as decayed heads popped out from behind trees. Each of them in different stages of decay. What they did have in common though was that they were all equine heads. All of them were paying attention to Silphen, silently watching, waiting.

"Fuck…" Silphen said, conjuring a bolt of shadow magic. "Fire…?"

“Remember not to kill them all, we’ve got to get their souls, otherwise I can’t build my hexblade armor.” Sam said, already placing down a stone brazier.

"Right…" Silphen said, duplicating the bolt of magic repeatedly and starting to fire into the crowd, aiming at their limbs to disable them.

Sam quickly placed the two pedestals, looking like open, outstretched hands, he needed for this ritual down. Placing a pile of bonemeal, grinded from the bones of monsters he’s slayed, into the unlit brazier. He looked over as the undead were advancing entirely on Silphen. And with the ritual being here, he couldn’t use any aoe spells.

Silphen huffed as he doubled the output, using both hands to direct the volleys in two separate directions. Turning back to the ritual, Sam placed a pile of redstone each on the braziers. Afterward he took out his Flint and Steel, with a single crack as he smacked them together, the brazier lit up. First devouring the bonemeal as white sparks flew off of a floating symbol that looked like a skull. The first redstone was consumed as he looked back at Silphen. Hoping desperately for the ritual to hurry up.

12…

He growled as a faint purple mist began to flow from the corners of his eyes. He was starting to get pissed with how many undead there were. He kept on the move, always aiming at the legs and kneecaps, always aiming to disable…

Sam’s eyes widened as he thought the undead that had appeared were going to be it, only a few forty or so, but when he saw streams of them coming from the darkness of the trees that even his night vision was having trouble penetrating… They stepped over the bodies of their dismembered fellows like they were large rocks.

As one side of the encirclement came close to the ritual, he slashed out with his sword, the magic infused blow decimating twelve of them, only for more to take their place.

11…

Silphen's eyes narrowed as he dodged an arrow shot from behind him. He glanced back and saw that one of the undead was riddled with arrows and was wielding a bow coated in an oozing black aura of magic as it pulled another arrow out of itself to launch. He didn't let it and sent a single arrow of fire back, piercing it's head and exploding it.

Sam was starting to worry as he raised a wall to slow down the undead’s advance on one side, turning around and slashing at a zombpony he swore was basically a skeleton at that point behind Silphen. It was a waste of his extremely limited mana, but so was Silphen being temporarily taken out of the fight. He swore as he realized a lot of the undead were going for the ritual instead of Silphen, and the ritual hadn't even consumed the second pile of redstone yet.

10…

Silphen growled as he noticed it as well, stomping to forcefully drag the undead away using earth magic to pull the ground back. He howled in pain as one of them made it to him, jumping up and biting his shoulder.

Sam grit his teeth, what he said to Zecora was true, the undead really were ignoring him, as he wasn’t part of the living. He needed something to hit a lot of them. He looked at hotbar, spellbook, sword, pickaxe, orangish red feather, shov- wait. The hotbar slot that he usually kept empty was filled with a pixelated orange and red feather, hovering over, the item appeared in his hand, it was really a feather. He saw the name of the item, Displaced_Token_Vargas, at the same time he heard the message.

”To those without hope, and any who seek true challenge, summon forth the Hero of Flame, Vargas! I shall burn away all your problems, all for the simple request of a duel thereafter!”

This was just like his and Silphen’s. He looked around, already the undead had climbed up over, through, and around his wall, being undeterred by mortal limits. Silphen was practically being overwhelmed. He said fuck it.

“Yo Vargas, I summon thee… Quickly!”

9…

The feather was tossed out of his hand by some kind of wind, flames blazing out of it as it flew through the air in front of him. It reached a point a few feet above Sam’s head, before the inferno expanded outward, fire coiling unnaturally to form some kind of gateway between him and the zombponies shambling closer. The gates swung open silently, and with a rather loud battlecry, a red-headed human flew out, a flaming greatsword swinging out ahead of him, decapitating several of the decaying monsters in one swing.

With what little light the gateway brought, the two could make out that the newcomer bore steel armor decorated with orange flame patterns, with a red vest tucked underneath the breastplate and his single shoulder guard. He carried his greatsword effortlessly with one arm, gloved hand tight around the grip.

“Huh? Where the heck is this?” The man said, his red eyes looking around in curiosity as the gateway faded away, leaving only a smoldering feather to float gently to the ground.

"Shut up and thin the horde! There's too many for us to be picky now!" Silphen shouted, as he switched tactics and began firing blindly into the horde, killing some and injuring many, choosing to ignore his wound for the moment. There were too many around him for him to take even a second to heal himself.

“We just have to last until the ritual is finished! Then we can make a break for it!” He yelled. His own Mangled Mana key-like energy sword blasting a group of undead to pieces, while his other hand grabbed a zombie and threw it into its fellows. Buying some precious seconds.

8…

“Heh, well all right then!” Vargas nodded, and he swung his blade to the side, the flames licking across it suddenly blazing more intensely. “I’ll burn them all away!” He rushed forward, his greatsword leaving a blazing trail behind it as the zombpones were cut apart like foul-smelling onions, flames leaping from one body to the next as his crimson cape flowed behind him. He laughed as he leapt past one trying to swing at him, leather boots slamming against a tree as he launched himself back into the horde.

His blade came down like a blazing meteor, cutting clean through one unfortunate zombpone and sending flames rushing around the impact zone, catching at least a dozen of the shambling corpses aflame.

Sam wasted no breath in communicating anymore, his mana bar was already down to less than half. A swing that brought only a few zombponies around Silphen to dust brought that amount lower. He took out his shovel in his other hand, hitting the earth underneath a few of them, with the sound of rotten flesh meeting hard earth, two dozen foes were sufficiently trapped in a several meter square hole.

Silphen himself had given up trying to shoot the horde, and donned his armor from when Sam and he had fought the first time, shield and all. He swung, cutting down several zombponies that turned into undead ice golems. He then roared in defiance and the golems he now controlled roared in unison. He refused to die here. Fuego was still out there. So he started slashing and bashing.

7…

The flaming greatsword burned even brighter as it ripped through the skulls of another dozen zombpones, Vargas grinning ear to ear as he let the momentum of his blade carry him, spinning around almost like a top and ripping through as many as he could before he started to grow dizzy. “Man, how many of these things are there?” He laughed, righting himself and crushing the face of one overly eager zombpone with the chained pommel of his greatsword. “There doesn’t seem to be an end to them!”

“Enough to pretty much decimate Equestria! At least that’s what the book said!” Sam yelled over the horde, he was in the thick of it as all the undead ignored him, creating ditches, and occasionally cutting into the ranks, needing to use two slices now that his mana had ran out after a zealous swing.

"Uncle Iroh!" Silphen shouted as he kicked one zombpony, blocking an arrow from another, and cut the head off a third, adding it to his growing army. He then lept back and took a deep breath in preparation for the spell he was about to use.

6…

With a chime, the redstone dust went up in a puff of white sparkles. The ritual began emitting a chiming tinkling noise. “The ritual’s halfway done!” Sam called out as one zompony bit his arm after he swung at another group, he caved it’s head in with a punch before finishing off the other undead that had aggroed onto him. Silphen then released the spell, bellowing as he breathed fire almost as hot as the sun out onto the unending wave of shambling dead.

“Oh, we’re doing a ritual then?” Vargas yelled back, smashing his fist through a zombpony’s head while his sword continued cutting apart the endless horde, leaving a blazing trail of bodies in his wake that only seemed to pile up as he almost danced back and forth.

5…

“You’re lucky he’s a fire guy, and my armor pretty much has full fire resistance! The residual heat from that spell is enough to flash cook the insides of somebody!” Sam yelled out as he swiped at the now bloating undead, wrinkling his nose as the stench of cooked insides was awful.

"That's why I warned you!" Silphen shouted back, the purple mist flowing freely from his eyes and maw. He growled as he turned back to rekilling the corpses. As he reached for more magic, he realized what he was doing and understood why he wasn't attacking his allies then.

He had a reason to live. A reason to stay good, even if he lost his soul to corruption, he would never lose his desire to protect Aurana. Silphen smirked as he began slinging every spell his other half gave him as quickly as they came.

Vargas swept through another wave of zombponies, his sword carving through their bodies and ground alike as he cut out a large groove in the ground beneath them, and a wall of flames burst up in front of him as he landed next to Sam, blazing carcasses stumbling through and falling into a heap barely a foot beyond. “Killing zombies is cool and all, but they barely give me a good fight!” He grinned, breathing heavily. “Either of you good at fighting, by chance?” He asked, lunging forward and spearing a groaning carcass upon his sword, letting the flames burn it until it melted to the ground, before continuing with the killing.

4…

“I’m pretty much best at single targets!” Sam yelled as a dozen zombies were once more obliterated after his mana regened enough for another powered swing. “Although I’m finding my mana endurance needs more work!”

"I'm best at versatility, but need a second to switch gears!" Silphen called out as he ducked a volley of ooze tipped arrows, looking over and seeing a line of the archer corpses. "Got a firing squad!"

Vargas rushed over, cutting down anything in his path and using the fiery greatsword to deflect oncoming arrows as he charged the archers’ position. “Not for long!” He shouted, his blade cleaving through the closest and sending limbs flying.

3…

Silphen chuffed as he sensed the horde growing desperate as it felt it's demise coming. He turned his focus to slashing anything rotting that moved. He didn't have time to check if it was still groaning or not, not at the moment.

Sam rushed back to the Brazier, knocking back a zombpony who was about to smash it’s hooves down onto the ritual before decapitating it. This unfortunately let the undead he was keeping at bay through, closer to the ritual.

“Hey, watch out for that one!” Vargas called out, abandoning the last of the archers to charge towards them, his sword held high with both hands. He cut through two offending equines without pause, and added a final burst of speed to his charge, bringing his blade down hard on the rotting flesh of another zombpony about to disrupt the ritual.

2…

Silphen blinked in shock as he went to cut through a zombpony… only for it to float up and over his head. "FUCK! SPECTERS!" Silphen called out as he realized what it was when it screamed at him in rage.

Sam turned around, only to blink in surprise as the Specter, entirely unfooled by his undead nature, swiped at him with a hoof. It got a sword swing into its side for the trouble, but that barely deterred it as it tried to push its way past him.

“What’s a specter?” Vargas asked, grabbing a pony by its neck and swinging around. He let it go after a moment, flinging it through a group of other zombponies, who fell like bowling pins. “These things aren’t really great opponents, so if you’ve got something better for me to fight, let me at em!”

1…

"Ghosts, basically! Use magic or be a Minecrafter!" Silphen called out, launching a blast of pure mana at it. He then looked around and saw more floating up. "Fucking hell!"

“I’m taking that item from Zecora’s! Damn whatever terrible price I most likely don’t have to pay, this is annoying!” Sam yelled as he obliterated a second one next to the ritual brazier, along with several zomponies next to it, his mana dipping back to near zero.

“Oooh, okay!” Vargas grinned, cutting down several zombponies as he leapt up to stand by the brazier. A specter flew close, and his sword shot up, the flames reaching out and consuming the creature in its entirety.

0…

With a chime, and an explosion of white sparks, the undead in the clearing grunted as their flesh was vaporized. Sam ignored the blueish white gems piling up at his feet, his inventory and backpacks unable to hold them all.

“Run! Before we have to do that all over again!” He shouted as he took off back the way they entered, ignoring the brazier and the two pedestals, they were cheap, and he didn’t want to give any undead that had survived a chance to surround them again.

Vargas shrugged, sliding his sword behind his back before rushing after Sam, the flames somehow not burning away his clothes as he jumped past large roots and tree branches.

Silphen brought up the rear, taking a second to grab and store a couple fistfuls of the gems. He glanced back after a few minutes and swore. "Keep going! They're following, so I need to take a second to create a barrier spell!"

The wolf then jumped up to one of the branches of the trees and pulled out his book, flipping it to the Fire Element section, he called out, "Arde et irreme, murus flammae gehennae!" The spell caused a wall of black flames to erupt in front of him, burning anything that touched it to ash. Not even the Specters could get through, thankfully, so he dropped back down and ran on all fours to catch up.

After a minute of running, Sam looked around. Seeing as they weren’t followed, he stopped. “Right… Proper introductions I guess, I’m Sam, he’s the wolf that currently goes by Silphen, as his alter ego took his real name for himself. And that entire exercise we just did was useless, because I’m taking that amulet from Zecora and just making myself power armor, waiting to find ender pearls be damned.” He said, first pointing to himself, then the catching up wolf.

“And I’m Vargas, hero of fire!” The warrior replied, stopping next to Sam. “So wait, was that horde of zombies really the only reason you guys summoned me?” He asked, scratching his head.

Silphen came to a stop next and stood up straight with a sigh. "Silphen Dardo. Archmage of what Sam and I have decided to call ourselves. And honestly? He summoned you. I don't know how long he's had your Token, and quite honestly, I don't care. You said those things weren't much of a fight? How about you try me? I'd like to see how far I've come this last month and I'm certain Sam still has some leftovers from our first unfortunate fight, the cheating prick…"

“Right, yeah, your Token did say you wanted to fight whoever summoned you. Let's make a detour first, I’m requisitioning that Amulet of the Alicorn or whatever you called it in my name as prince of Equestria. I only fought equally to you at the end because I had a mana regen three potion.” Sam said, shaking his head in exasperation.

"Technically just the Everfree, but yeah. You need more mana, and the last time we tried mixing mana it ended with you respawning and Ashton having to take over to heal our battered near-corpse…" Silphen said, shivering at the memory of almost dying from the effects of the reaction. Turns out you try mixing two mana sources from wholly different systems and you run into the same problem as most other folks attempting to create a M157 spell… Explosive dissatisfaction.

“Well sure, I’ll fight one of you.” Vargas nodded, “But Sammy’s right, let’s make that detour! I’d rather not fight either of you when you’re all tuckered out! That’d make it too easy!” He laughed slightly at that, before shaking his head. “Ah, man it’s been a while since I could relax… so, mister glowy blue, where to?”

“Zecora’s tree… hut… thing… Zecora’s.” He said finally, shaking his head as he started walking… “As I said, gotta requisition that Amulet of the Alicorn. Is it named that because it gives you the mana of an alicorn, or just the raw power or something?”

"A bite from column A, a scribble of section beta, and sprinkle of choice charlie." Silphen said, shrugging as even he didn't know for sure one way or the other. The show never went into too much detail over it, and they were clearly in a different timeline from the show itself.

“Meh, doesn’t sound like my kind of thing.” Vargas shrugged, his armor clanking from the movement. “I’m more of a ‘make my own strength’ kind of fighter, you know?”

“Yeah, well minecraft is pretty much ‘yours if you own it’ type of strength. Plus I still have to figure out these values, since I don’t actually have a number on my mana, all I know is that what I would be using those souls for would’ve cost me several days for only sixty mana.”

“What do you guys even need these souls for, anyway?” Vargas asked. “I mean, this doesn’t exactly sound like clean magic, considering you need souls for it.”

“I was going to use it to contact some sort of eldritch powerful being who would then give me secrets unending, then use them to create a metal alloy that would be mana conductive, while rigid. All stuff my fiance would definitely freak out over if she ever found out.”

"And promptly blame me for suggesting it to you to try." Silphen added with a chuckle. "That aside, we should probably get going. I can make a quick one use portal circle to get us back home, Sam, but I'll need a second to talk with Ashton about the specifics and ensure I don't accidentally send us into a wall or your super smelter."

“Right, I’ll just get the amulet then, I can make it faster by running over the forest… No idea how I’m going to get that thing off of Zecora, but mentioning Sunshine’s name might do it. And ‘mr Technically of the everfree’, my domain is a tributary to my fiance’s kingdom, and our engagement is official despite her being too scared to announce it, so I am still Prince Consort of Equestria.” Sam snarked.

“Huh, well congrats!” Vargas clapped him on the back. “Never met the ruler of Equestria before, but I’m sure she’s a great person!” This caused Silphen to sputter as he raced to keep from laughing. Last thing he needed was Sam punching him in the gut again.

"Working in the portal!" He called out before turning away to work on it, switching with Ashton for a bit to laugh his ass off safely. There were perks to have a split soul like his.

“Yeah, our first meeting she killed me… after eating my only cake… I was pretty sure this all was a dream when she teleported us to her old bed though…” Sam sputtered.

“Well, that’ll be quite an awkward honeymoon!” Vargas laughed again, glancing at Silphen briefly. “So, we’re to wait here while you get your fancy amulet, yeah?”

"Not quite, friend. Silphen told me he used a spell to create the equivalent of an amaterasu wall to hold back the dead. It'll hold them back for a good while, but not long enough for Sam to get to Miss Zecora's place and return in time for us to use the portal configuration." Ashton said from the ground, a small circle carved into it at his feet. Sam nodded as he started hopping up the trees, disappearing into the foliage.

“So we’re fighting more zombies?” Vargas sighed, crossing his arms. “Yeah, I guess that’s okay. I’m sure I can find some entertaining fights with them.”

Ashton chuckled as he stood up and turned to face him, the portal circle finished. "No, Mister Vargas, you shall be fighting Silphen. The other half of my soul. As I, Ashton, am the other half of his."

“Oh?” The flame warrior perked up at this, giving the wolf a once over. “Well, you can definitely give me a better fight than those zombies. Though, I guess that isn’t saying much, now is it?” He pulled out his sword, the flames burning brighter the moment his hand gripped the handle.

Ashton smiled as he glowed in a rainbow of colors flowed over him and he took a step forward. "Do try, Mister Vargas. I assure you, if I were to fight, you would not win. No, the pleasure you'll find will be from Silphen, whom needs more training."

“Oooh, confident are ya?” Vargas grinned, tossing his sword up in the air. “You’re really just gonna show off this…super magic sparkly stuff, then tell me I’m fighting a rookie instead?” He gave a mock sigh as his sword fell back to earth behind him, blade first, and sank halfway down the sword. “You really know how to irritate someone, don’tcha?”

Ashton bowed slightly, confident in his wards against everything he had seen from Vargas, and several things he'd seen from people like Vargas in his original world. "I do try to have fun where I can, Mister Vargas. I was one of the ten deadliest beings in my universe before being torn away from it. Silphen is using our power for different means though, and I don't particularly blame him. Now, shall we go so you can have your spar with someone closer to your skill level?"

“You have no idea what my skill level even is, wolfie.” Vargas grumbled, pulling his sword out with ease and holding it over his shoulder. “I mean, really, what have you seen? Me fighting a few zombies?” He rolled his eyes as he walked to the side. “Whatever then, let’s get this done with.”

Ashton nodded and stepped into the circle with him, the portal opening beneath their feet and depositing the duo in the courtyard of the refurbished Castle of the Twin Sisters. "As I said, Mister Vargas. Closer. You won't be able to harm me unless I allow it. Feel free to try if you doubt me."

“Sure.” Vargas grinned. “How’s about this? I mop the floor with the rookie, then you give me one move.” He twirled his flaming sword around. “I’ll show you just how strong I really am, wolfie!”

Ashton smirked and bowed, dropping the defenses he had and stumbling as he switched back with Silphen. "So… How you wanna start…?" Silphen asked.

“The first attack is yours, rookie!” Vargas said, hopping side to side and stretching his arms out. “I’ll go a bit easy on you, so make it count!”

Silphen nodded and took a deep steadying breath as he channeled all the mana he could control safely and imagined himself coated in a suit of armor made of an alloy made from Wakandan Vibranium and Wolverine's Adamantium. The spell took several seconds to forge the new metal, especially since it didn't actually exist in this world. When he opened his eyes and saw Vargas still standing there, he became nervous. He then created a crystalline sword that looked an awful lot like the one he had been using to fight the zombies and swung at him..

Vargas’ blade exploded into a whirlwind of fire, intercepting the crystal sword and stopping it in its tracks, a wave of heat burning at his fur like he had suddenly stepped into a volcano.

“Decent enough form, fancy weapon,” Vargas said, pushing forward and knocking Silphen backwards. “But there’s not enough strength behind it.” He doused the flaming inferno around his sword, and lunged forward, swinging his blade at the wolf’s abdomen. Silphen gasped in pain as heat exploded across his gut and was flung backwards, purple arcane runes appearing across his armor.

"Fuck, that's hot… And heavy…" He looked up and changed the form of his crystal blade into that of a rapier, making his intentions to switch from strength to agility clear.

Vargas was upon him quicker than the wolf thought he could move, his blade heating up further. “Oh, one of my pals uses one of those!” He kept only enough distance between them for his sword to reach, and with each strike that Silphen barely deflected, he felt the heat generated by the broadsword grow more intense.

Silphen grunted, letting one of his strikes through to get a little bit more kinetic energy stored up, then punched the ground and willed the armor to release everything it had stored up in a blast. He wanted as the runes faded he was left glowing faintly as heat emanated from his suit. "So… this is why they don't use it for more than a shield… fuck, it's hot in here…"

“And it’s only going to get hotter!” Vargas grinned, having been knocked backward slightly. “Now, which will fall first? You, or your armor?” His sword burst into flames once again, not quite as hot as before, but hot enough. “Let’s find out!” He launched himself forward again, sword swinging out even faster than before, only to see Silphen throw his own blade down to the ground, trying to remove his helmet.

"Me!" He shouted. "You… You won't be able to break this stuff! It… it's an alloy of Wakandan Vibranium and Wolverine's Adamantium!"

“Is that a challenge?” Vargas asked, having stopped mid swing. “I mean, I can get this sword pretty hot, you know.”

"Melting it and breaking it are two separate problems…" Silphen said as he growled and simply willed the armor to come off of him and let him breathe normally. "Fuck… So while you could easily melt it, you'd have to get it almost as hot as the sun itself. If not hotter. And by then, whoever's inside the suit will have died long ago."

“Ah, fair enough!” Vargas nodded in understanding. “I suppose this is my win then?”

*Yeah, yeah… Just give me a second to catch my breath and switch with Ashton…" Silphen replied, willing the rest of his suit to take the form of a bracelet on his right wrist.

After a few seconds, he stumbled and Vargas felt the same murderous intent he had earlier. Ashton turned to face him with a smile.

"Impressive, Mister Vargas. Though I do wonder how you'd fare against someone that can phase through fire and metal…" He said as the rainbow of colors flowed over him once more.

“Well, we can always find out.” Vargas grinned, and the flames surrounding his sword burst out once more. Energy burned around Vargas, his armor glimmering in the heat. His hair waved about, seeming almost like the very flames that burned along his sword as he held out his blade, the clinking of the pommel’s chain drowned out by the roaring inferno. “Now, I believe you agreed to let me hit you as hard as I can, right?”

Ashton smiled like a madman, putting his arms out to the side in invitation. "Come, Vargas God-burner! Come and try to cut me down! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

“Alright!” Vargas grinned, grabbing his blade with both hands. “I’ll show you that Dandelga can cut down anything in my path!” He rushed forward, blade low and cutting through the floor before reaching the wolf. “Infinity… Burst!” With a yell, he brought his sword up, and Ashton sensed that something was off.

He put his hands out to block the strike, grunting in surprise as he felt the blade itself bite into his palms for a second before flinging him backwards, a gout of extremely hot flames roaring around him as they spread all across the courtyard, though they phased right through Ashton himself. He looked down at his shaking hands and chuckled, he clearly miscalculated something, but he couldn't think of what. "Well I am very impressed… Is your blade perhaps a divine metal or infernal metal? Those are the only things I can think of for you being able to still harm me in my current state, God Slayer Vargas."

“Hell if I know!” Vargas grinned, the roaring flames of his sword dying out as Vargas settled down, though the flames that now filled the courtyard did not dissipate. “All I know is, it makes me more fired up when I use it!”

Ashton looked around the flaming courtyard and paled slightly. "Shit…" He quickly began applying as many blunt force and slashing force defenses as he could, fully expecting Sam to return any second now.

“My topiaries…” The voice came from behind Ashton. Sam was there, looking through the slowly burning doorway. His eyes were glowing a bright crimson instead of the navy blue he had set them as to hide his vampiric nature. The twisted mana blade in his hand was sparking ominously.

“Oh, hey Sam!” Vargas waved, finally taking note of the fiery destruction he had caused, “Sorry about your courtyard, mister arrogant god over here didn’t think I could hurt him, so I obviously had to prove him wrong!”

“Did he now…? And did he tell you I have entire areas cleared so that his fire spells don’t burn down the forest… or my courtyard…?” Sam said calmly as he slowly walked up to the wolf.

Ashton seemed nervous, but didn't let his fear reach his voice. "Apologies, Mister Sam. I had forgotten about that area… And underestimated how powerful Mister Vargas' flames were…"

Sam sighed and raised his sword up… only to bonk the wolf on the head gently with the flat of it… knocking him to the floor and out cold despite all his defenses against such an attack. Sam looked at the cobblestone beneath the wolf worryingly, as cracks had spread from his small tap.

“Shit… Gotta reevaluate how much that does…” He muttered.

“Well, I see I have a bit of training to do back home!” Vargas grinned, his hair seeming to almost glow, and wave about like actual flames. “I put my all into that strike, and only scratched wolfie? Oh, I can’t wait to kick both of your asses!”

“For a minute, I thought you were going to decide to fight me next. Guess you’ll be wanting to go back?” Sam sighed, pushing Ashton with a diamond boot, nodding when the unconscious wolf grunted.

“Yeah, I recognize an impossible fight when I see one.” Vargas said, gesturing to the unconscious wolf. “He can act cocky all he wants, but I definitely could have beaten him. Would be a rough fight, but it was possible.”

“What makes me so impossible? Pretty sure I just surprised him… and me. Seriously, this Amulet is crazy, I had to use a full bar to use a fully amplified spell like this before, now it barely takes a twentieth.” Sam asked, shaking his head in wonder.

“Well, if you think so.” Vargas shrugged, “Though I can’t guarantee the safety of your courtyard if we fight.”

“Then let's take it somewhere else… You don’t mind waiting like… say five minutes for me to make a gigantic field over the top of the forest out of obsidian, right? Otherwise our only other recourse would be fighting in the mines.”

“Sure, whichever you want!” Vargas replied, sheathing his blade behind him. “I should have enough gas in the tank left for another fight, so you best make it a good one!”

“Right. Kinda wished I had builders wands or something, would make this take a minute instead…” Sam muttered as he took out his spellbook and once more launched himself through the tree cover. A few minutes later he landed back down, the courtyard fire had already gone out.

“Right, well, it’s done. You have a way up?” Sam asked.

“I mean, not really.” Vargas replied, gesturing behind him. “No wings and stuff.”

“Right, let me just place this… together with this… alright. Just trust this, you’ll bounce a little upon impact, but it won’t hurt at all, Used this to tackle my fiance out of the air once.”

“Alright then,” Vargas leapt up, landing on a flat plane of obsidian after bouncing a few times. Unlike actual volcanic glass however, this stuff didn’t break or crack due to his weight. Sam followed up after him, landing without bouncing behind him, a pie tin in his hand.

“You want this before or after the fight? May as well send you off with a little gift. Apparently all the stuff I make is super delicious and nourishing or something,” Sam asked.

“I’ll go with after,” Vargas replied, pulling out his sword. “Food’ll taste better after a fight.” He swung it against the obsidian floor, testing its durability. “Tough ground… so, how we doing this?”

“I’ll be honest,” Sam said, Shrugging as the pie in his hand disappeared. “I spent two weeks fighting for my life when I first got here, so I never really learned how to hold back. This obsidian is the hardest block I can currently make, and impervious to heat as well, so pretty much don’t hold back.”

“All out it is then!” Vargas nodded, igniting his blade once more. An instant later, he closed the distance between them, greatsword already swinging for Sam’s neck. With an equally fast swipe of Sam’s hand, his mana blade impacted the greatsword, a second wave of force from it reversing its momentum as Sam took out his spellbook, internally nodding as his thirty seconds of speed nine only took up a sliver of mana.

The swordsman used the momentum, spinning around and turning his horizontal slash into a downward blow, flames roaring out ahead of the sword like they had a life of their own.

Sam parried the attack from the side, letting the flaming sword crash into the obsidian floor as he backed away, moving like he was teleporting. He circled around to the right side before striking with a horizontal slash at Vargas’ shoulder. The blade dug an inch into the spiked armor before Vargas swung about, blowing out a wave of fire from his sword and obscuring himself from Sam’s view, but only for a moment as he burst through the dissipating flame wall, sword held at his hip as he pushed it ahead of him in an attempt to stab the minecraftian, flames boiling around the tip of his blade.

Sam grinned ferally, his fangs showing as he let the sword spear him through the chest, ignoring the seven hearts of damage it dealt, and ignoring the ‘on fire’ debuff as his sword disappeared from his right hand into his left as he stabbed it into the fiery figure’s stomach.

Vargas’ breath left him as the blade went through him, pulling his own sword out and using his leg to push himself off of Sam’s blade, a trail of glowing blood trailing his path. “Nghh, damn that sword hurts!” He grinned, clutching his wound. “Didn’t expect that…” His sword’s flames burned brighter as he held it to his left. “Let’s see what other surprises you got for me!” Leaping forward again, the flaming swordsman wielded his weapon like a hammer, jumping into the air and raising it over his head. Flames once more built around it’s blade, obscuring it from view as he brought it down upon Sam.

Sam grinned as he licked the glowing blood off his blade. His eyes widened as suddenly the flames around him went out as Blood like mist began emanating from him. Before Vargas could even see what happened, Sam moved out of the way, his sword crashing once more into the obsidian floor as his forearm suddenly felt a prick. Looking over, Sam was there, his mouth latched on and grinning as a small dribble of Vargas’ blood escaped.

Vargas gave him a brief, concerned look, before promptly driving his fist into Sam’s face, following it up with a blazing swipe from his blade into the minecraftian’s leg. Sam took the punch, using it to kick himself off of Vargas while also unbalancing him, the swipe going just under his legs as Sam landed several feet away, wiping away the golden blood that had splattered on his face when his forceful removal caused two gashes to open up on Vargas’ arm.

“In the name of my fiance, why are you so delicious!?” Sam shouted as he charged back at Vargas. Blood Rage, his new upgrade, had already healed him back to full red hearts, and he took enough blood to sustain it for a few more seconds. Sam slashed overhead, putting both arms behind the swing.

Vargas blocked the blow with his own two handed grip of his blade, using his immense strength to shove the blade back. Before Sam could recover, a fist struck his face from the side, and Vargas drove his sword through the sudden distance between them, intense flames reaching out from the blade and blazing across Sam’s armor.

Sam smirked, his neck making a disconcerting cracking sound as the punch impacted him and took off three hearts. The flames blazing across him were surprisingly pleasant as he looked at his fire resistance buff. Apparently Vargas was like a living potion for him.

He smirked as he selected his spellbook, it’s pages flipping as he put his hand on Vargas’ sword before casting a spell he wanted to try out. Soon the gigantic greatsword was flung deep into the obsidian, breaking through like King Arthur’s sword. With the few seconds Sam bought he reached up and returned the favor, slugging Vargas in the jaw. The swordsman reeled back, staggering slightly, before righting himself and sending a blow straight into Sam’s chest, sending him flying backwards from the sheer force of the blow and taking off another three hearts.

It was at this point Sam noticed Vargas was no longer grinning. He paused, the blood mist dissipated as he stood up from his crouch.

“Something the matter?” He asked, slightly worried that he had damaged the greatsword or something. Vargas leapt to the buried sword, gripping it with both hands and wrenching it out of the obsidian ground.

“You’re a vampire then?” He grunted, the flames of his sword burning much hotter than before.

“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that earlier, you taste a lot different from monster blood.” He smiled relieved, spinning his sword in his hand as he prepared for Vargas’ charge.

Vargas’ expression didn’t change. Instead, the fire of his sword tripled in intensity, and he lowered slightly. “Then I have no reason to treat this as an honest fight.” He stated. “Infinity Burst.” He rushed forward, gripping his weapon with two hands as the inferno grew behind him.

“I’m from The Abode of God! It was never a fair fight to begin with!” Sam smiled as he laughed, not catching his naming mistake as he readied his stance to parry Vargas’ next attack. The flaming swordsman swung his sword up as soon as he was in reach, a cacophony of flames flowing along with the blade as the two blades met, the full strength of the swordsman in this one blow.

Sam grinned ferally as the obsidian cracked under their feet. The flames washing over him harmlessly, Sam’s eyes widened as he pushed back, forcing his body through the air as his sword crumbled in his hand until not even dust remained, his spellbook opening in his other hand as back to back balls of blue energy flew straight at Vargas.

Silphen jumped over the edge at that point, catching Vargas as he was flung back. "Woah! You good, Vargas?" He asked as he inspected him. He knew the hole in his gut wasn't a good sign, so he began to heal the flaming swordsman. The blazing inferno that was his sword had suddenly dimmed to only a few flames licking up the blade, and the warrior was clearly much paler than he had been earlier. It was possible that the flames from his sword had made it less obvious, but he had clearly lost a lot of blood.

“G…goddamn…” Vargas groaned, dropping the blade and letting it clatter to the ground. “Hate…cowardly… vampires…”

“Shit…” Sam said as he landed. “That looks really bad.”

The irony was lost on Sam, as he had a large gaping hole where his left lung was supposed to be, instead a dark empty blackness sat there in place of visceral organs and tissue. He had never been hurt by something that hadn't instantly killed him, or was put down before it could be noticed, and the monsters he had fought definitely hadn’t said anything about it.

"Sam, you think you went a touch too far with this? You could've killed Vargas! And as far as we both know, killing a Displaced is a BAD THING!" Silphen shouted, clearly irate with him before turning to Vargas, who he had been healing this whole time using magic to replace the lost blood. "And Vargas, he became a vampire to track me down when Tyrant Tia wanted my head, so that part's on me, not him…"

“So… he chose to be one…” Vargas coughed bitterly, his irritated scowl returning. “Even… worse…”

“Vampires here also live semi-harmoniously with the living… actually, all of Luna's guards are vamponies as they call themselves.” Sam said as he walked up, poking at the infinite darkness in his body. It felt cold to the touch. “And honestly, how was I supposed to know he was so hurt! He broke my sword, my magic sword no less! Seriously, that thing repairs itself off of my magic!”

"So what!? You almost put Vargas six feet under! That alone would… Where's the amulet?" Silphen asked, suddenly remembering where he had been. He hoped Sam wasn't being affected by it, but… there was a reason he called it the 'perfect corruptor' in the other universe…

“It’s on me, I thought it’d be best to hide it since I told Zecora it was going in the vaults…” Sam sighed. “And yeah, probably should have at least tried to hold back… but you know I’ve been fighting nothing but monsters since I got here, and those fights are kinda to the death.”

Vargas slowly got to his feet, color returning to his skin as he bent down to recover his weapon. “If I had known you were a vampire, I wouldn’t have even bothered with the fight.” He muttered, putting his sword in its place behind his back. “Go ahead and send me back.”

“Right…” Sam said, sounding a bit dejected. “Just a minute.”

He searched through his inventory for a little bit, before a three tiered cake appeared in his hands. “This was going to be used as a fiance bribe but… man, sorry about almost killing you in the fight. Take this and the pie.”

"Oh, and my Token. Might not like Sam, but I'd still like to meet your friends!" Silphen said as he called forth a version of his Token to give to Vargas.

The swordsman took both items, his features softening a bit. “Thanks. And for the next time, getting run through the gut is usually a bad thing for us humans.” Vargas said after a moment. “And for whatever it’s worth, I enjoyed the fight, somewhat.”

"I mean, I could've resurrected you, but it's more the fact of the matter." Silphen said with a shrug.

Sam said his own admin command to summon his diamond sword of a token before balancing it on top of the cake, then putting a pie on top of that. “And with this, the summoning is complete! See you next time!”

Vargas nodded, as the same fiery gate that brought him to this world reformed, and he walked through, letting the flaming doors slam shut behind him, before fading.

“Right… Now how about you start fixing my shrubbery Silphen. You should remember what it looked like before you burned it down… After that, go visit Aurana, your prince demands it.” Sam said, turning to the wolf, causing him to since before nodding and jumping back to the ground to go about following the order.

Author's Note

Vargas is owned by Warmaster. The same guy as our last crossover chapter!

Chapter 13

Silphen was running away from three mares. Three very angry mares. Ok, two were angry, and the third just wanted to see what Silphen could do in a fight, but still.

"Ah said stay still, ya dog!" Applejack yelled, whipping her rope out to trip the mage.

"And I said I never let them get hurt!" Silphen shouted back as he jumped over the rope, and under the terrifyingly sharp battlescarf the local seamstress unicorn used as a weapon.

“You never even asked!” Rarity said, her scarf shaving off a few hairs as it bent down. She put a hoof over her barrel. “I would have said no, such a thing is unbecoming of a lady, but it’s the thought that counts.”

"And yet, THEY approached US to start this whole ordeal!" Silphen called out, casting a quick heal into his robe to repair it. He then swore as he saw a streak of rainbow colored lightning fly past him. "AND WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU MAD AT ME!?"

“They’re foals.” The rainbow maned pegasi said, skidding to a stop several feet in front of Silphen. “They’ll obviously try and copy their best role model, me!”

“Eheh, I mean, you should have… sorry girls, I just can’t find a reason myself, this is fun though.” Rainbow dash said after the other two gave her looks of disappointment, before she took off in a blur once more.

"Dagnabbit, Rares, Ah done told you Rainbow wouldn't take this seriously!" Applejack scolded, axe kicking a tree and then launching it at the mage.

"Why me…?" Silphen asked as he stared at the wall of green coming at him, trying to recall how this all started…

Silphen groaned and popped his back as he finally made it back to Ponyville. Most of the townsfolk were cautious around him, but didn't seem to actively hate him anymore. Except for a certain mare that just seemed to hate him for the sake of hating him… stupid spoiled bitch…

He stopped outside of the house Aurana bought, and knocked on the door. "Aurana? Jade? Sam gave me a day off. Things are… contained, somewhat, within the Heart so no worries about it expanding."

Instead of Aurana, the small adorable Jade was there as the door swung outwards, with her large smile and her excitement, the door was the only thing holding her back from tackling Silphen in a hug.

"Woah! Hey there, Jade! You know where Aurana is?" Silphen asked with a smile and a chuckle. He then glanced around and leaned in to whisper her the next question on his mind. "And have you been eating enough love? Not sure how much you need…"

She nodded at the second question, before her large smile dimmed and she pointed inside. “Sis is.. She’s in there…”

Silphen frowned a little as he saw her smile fade slightly. He nodded and got up, going in to meet her. "Hey, Aurana… you holding up alright?"

“Huh...?” She asked, blearily looking up from the newspaper she had been head deep in. Her eyes had obvious signs of lack of sleep. “Oh… hi Silphen… yeah, Just peachy.”

"And that's a clear lie and a half. Nightmares?" Silphen asked as he sat beside her, careful not to make her panic. Again. Still had the scar on the back of his hand from when she smashed his hand to 'escape' when she thought he was gonna eat her because he surprised her into wakefulness once.

“No, it’s-” She paused as Jade scrambled up beside them. “Jade… why don’t you go and get the project you made a few days ago to show Silphen.”

Jade nodded, scrambling off the couch in the way foals do before dashing through a doorway. Silphen watched her with a smile then kissed the top of Aurana's head. He was worried for her, her and Jade.

"Would it be easier for you to show me?" He asked, holding out a paw that was glowing a faint blue, almost like that of Luna's magic.

“No!” She said hurriedly. The thought of him looking through her mind giving her flashbacks to Fuego and his dragons. “No… just… no…”

Silphen put his hand down, letting the glow fade as he decided to take a pot shot, seeing as she was looking in the job section of the paper. "It's about your work, isn't it? You know I could ask Sam for some help there, right? Or get you with one of the Six…"

“I don’t need- I just have to…” She sighed and slumped back into him. “I can’t do a lot of things… you know that… I’m not strong enough to buck trees all day… I’m not artsy and you know as well as I, I don’t have the power or spell knowledge needed to work with the weather… Besides, what actual help does your ‘prince’ even need? You do know everypony saw the carts carrying iron from the everfree last week, right?”

Silphen smiled warmly and sighed. "You know there's only so much a familiar can do, even Minxie, the most reliable and intelligent of them all, gets overwhelmed sometimes. Sam occasionally has to help out and give them a little bit more instruction when they suddenly run out of space in the chests, or a chest runs out of what they need. I'm pretty sure Sam could use you and Jade to help with, basically, house keeping up at his castle. That, or to act as guinea pigs for how Minecraftian Potions and spells work on ponies, your choice."

“I’d like to… but I can’t. Jade has been making friends here, and I can’t leave her alone… Which you’d know if you actually visited us more than once a week.” She said, shaking her head.

Silphen winced and sighed, nodding. "Yeah… I'm sorry for the delays… But, with things calming down I should be coming by more oft- Oh, hey! Is that the thing you wanted to show me Jade?" He asked, a smile returning instantly back to his face as he very deliberately tried to redirect Aurana's attention.

“Mmhmm!” Jade nodded vigorously, showing off a small clay statuette floating in her magic. It was a mishmash of different colored clay, and he had a hard time telling what it actually was supposed to represent. As there were obviously claws at the end of its arms, but it’s feet were just two stumps, and the head seemed to be more in the shape of a boulder with eyes and a nose than any animal.

"Huh… What is it? A… Boulder bug?" Silphen asked jokingly.

“It’s you!” Jade said, her eyes still clear and wide, waiting for him to praise her on her impeccable art skills. Silphen blinked, then tried to decipher how such a thing that looked like a boulder could be him…

Luckily a knock from the door saved him from his embarrassment. "I'll get it. And you might have missed something important." Silphen winked and flapped his robe as he went to answer the door. "Have you ever seen me without this?"

"Howdy. Y'all mind tellin' us why y'all're teaching our sisters how ta fight?" Applejack from the other side of the door, Rarity and Rainbow Dash with her.

“Really?! It was just dreadfully awful when I found these- these- crudely made things under sweet Sweetie Belle’s bed!” Rarity piped up, the chakram from the fight earlier floating beside her.

“Yeah, they aren’t even sha-” Rainbow Dash was cut off by a glare from the other two as she sheepishly shrugged in the air. “I mean, getting them to fight you is terrible.” She said half-heartedly.

"Aurana… Jade… I gotta run now, I'll be back later!" Silphen said as he bolted past the trio of mares, causing Applejack to yelp and run after him.

"GET BACK HERE YA JIT!" AJ yelled, giving chase.

Silphen then teleported to the side, barely evading the tree the farm pony had thrown at him. He then promptly kept running. Only to leap through the crossweave of Rarity’s scarf, skidding along the ground like a baseball player. The rush of wind above him told him that Rainbow Dash had just missed colliding with his spine.

"For fuck sake, ladies, if it helps any, we're not letting them use anything dangerous! And the chakrams were requested by Sweetie Belle, damn it!" Silphen yelled, coming to a stop as Applejack landed in front of him. He felt a cold shiver run down his spine as he swore he saw a bit of a red line of light flow out from under her stetson.

"That so…?" Applejack asked, dangerously calm.

"My poor Sweetie Belle, such distasteful implements of violence! I shall have a talkk with her about her choice of ensemble afterwards!” Rarity bemoaned, her scarf twisting on her magic.

“Aaalso, the wingblades you gave Scootaloo aren’t really that safe. One wrong hit and her wing could fracture.” rainbow yelled from high above nonchalantly. This declaration caused the two other mares to look at him more fiercely.

"Hey, she made those! Sam and I said she should look into them, that's all!" Silphen said, jabbing an accusatory finger into the sky, unable to really see Rainbow Dash through the trees.

"And mah sister's shovel things?" AJ asked, taking a step towards him.

"Also made by her. Sweetie Belle would be using a frisbee with a hole in it if it wasn't for Sam and me stepping in when she asked to borrow a hand saw…" He replied, taking a step back, still thoroughly worried AJ would attack him purely on principle.

“You still encouraged our little sisters… And scootaloo, to be barbarians!” Rarity cried out.

"What did you expect us to do, Rarity?! Let them beat us and cause them to go off and try to fight Timberwolves?" Silphen asked in response.

"Ah doubt Applebloom would do that, doggie," Applejack said as she whipped her rode out and brought Silphen to the ground.

“You could have dissuaded them from this dreadful notion in the first place.” Rarity said, her scarf wrapping around Silphen in a knot.

“Eh, still think Scoots could- I’ll be quiet.” Rainbow started before shutting up at another glare from the other two.

"Hey, before you guys kill me, I'd like to say two things… The first being that I can't respawn like Sam can, and the second being a question. Have any of you actually talked to your sisters about this, or did you all just get together and agree to jump me!?" Silphen asked, teleporting again to try and hide from the clearly murderous earth pony.

Applejack paused… then blinked… then turned to Rarity. "Ah didn't… did you…?"

“Of course not, I was too preoccupied with… well, eheh” Rarity sheepishly stopped herself before blushing.

“I mean, you two woke me up from my nap then dragged me along.” Rainbow said, landing.

"So maybe you three should sit them down and ask why they're doing this…?" Silphen suggested from behind the felled tree AJ had thrown at him.

"Ah mean… Ah guess we should…" Applejack said with a nervous chuckle. "Sorry fer… ya know… chasin' ya an' all that…"

“I mean, I’m completely fine with this. Scoots is tough, and you already know what’ll happen if you harm her.” Rainbow said, giving a one two hoof punch to the air. “Next time you fight though, don’t run away so much, for Celestia’s gigantic plot, you’re supposed to be some dark and powerful wizard and all that, aren’t you? All I saw you doing was teleporting.”

“Rainbow!” Rarity looked at the Pegasi in shock.

"No no, she's right on that. And as for why, is that I have an ace I didn't want to use in town, because of collateral…" Silphen then took a deep breath and willed the Vibranium Adamantium alloy suit of armor he was keeping on his wrist back onto his body. The metal flowed across him like water, hiding his robes beneath it, or in a pocket space, Silphen couldn't tell at the moment. "Now then… Rainbow Dash? You wanna give it a try?"

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about!” Rainbow Dash yelled, at first, Silphen thought she was just excited to hit him, but instead of doing that, she grabbed him, flying up high into the air to where the houses were specks.

"Rainbow… if you drop me, there's going to be an explosion of kinetic energy! Basically imagine hitting the ground after doing a Rainboom and instead of you getting hurt, everyone around you gets hurt!" Silphen shouted, suddenly very nervous about her intentions.

“This is exactly what I mean!” She yelled over the wind as she ascended higher. “Even Rarity knows that you don’t let your opponent dictate the battle! You just stand there and wait for your opponent to do something, take the initiative! With my speed, I could have already flown to the bogg and dropped you!”

Silphen blinked, then took a deep breath… and roared as he expelled all the shadow magic he could to create a ball around them, trapping her inside with him, and keeping them airborne. "In that case, let's do this."

“Good, but you’re still following my initiative! Do something crazy, something that I can’t expect!” She yelled as she pushed off of him, using the inertia to push them both out to opposite sides of the ball.

"Planned on it!" Silphen called out, creating a crystal baton and throwing it at her before teleporting to her side to kick her into it. She pushed her hooves against his leg, using them to corkscrew around the baton.

“You think I haven't fought unicorns before! The Wonderbolts are more than just an aerial stunt team!”

Silphen chuckled as he followed the kick through, hitting the baton and sending it into the barrier of shadow magic and causing it to start bouncing around the ball erratically while faint purple arcane runes began to flow across his metal form. "Not what I was aiming for, Dash! Remember what I said about the suit?"

“Alright! Time to go full speed!” She said excitedly, as she landed upside down on a cloud, before kicking off of it, destroying it and speeding off to the side as a blur. The only way he could track her was by the Clouds being destroyed as she used the clouds to change her direction. But he let her do so, allowing the baton to keep bouncing, building up a charge of kinetic energy until the runes on his armor were glowing with an intense purple light.

"Taste this!" Silphen yelled as he grabbed the baton and swung, releasing the kinetic charge as a cone of force that he slashed across the orb he had her trapped inside of.

The final cloud she jumped off of, instead of breaking apart, let off a large thunderbolt that bypassed the cone of force, zapping into Silphen. When the cone hit, the cloud dissipated and Rainbow was knocked back into the edge of the sphere. She fell for a few feet before shakily flying back up and looking at her handiwork.

Silphen slid to the bottom of the orb, unconscious. She smiled, hoof pumping as she slowly flew on down to him, her entire body sore. Silphen then exploded into motion, grabbing her by her foreleg and slamming her against the orb and pinning her there while holding the baton to the base of her neck.

"Little detail I should've told you lot about… I'm immune to electricity," Silphen said, tapping her lightly to mark his win.

“Pfft, fine, no way I could have known about that though.” she said indignantly, crossing her hooves.

He grunted and got up, willing his armor back into its inert state as he healed them both. While his gambit worked, he still had to work on the heating problem of the armor. Shit got really hot, really fast when getting hit like that. "Sorry about the slam, by the way…"

“Barely felt it!” She said quickly, stretching her wings. “Pretty sure AJ and Rarity went on to go talk to their sisters… For the record, I’m not actually mad about any of that, Scoots is a tough filly, and if this gets her mind off all her… issues, I don’t really mind. Now, I’m going to go continue napping.”

"Ha! I had a feeling that of them all, you'd care the least. Take it easy, Dash. Oh, and before I forget, you mind helping her with those wing extensions? That filly somehow turned her wings into buzzsaws with them…" Silphen shuddered as he recalled a branch that got between himself and the filly, watching it get turned to sawdust.

“Yeah yeah… I’ll see how to do that.” She said with a wave of her wing before taking off.

Silphen watched and willed the piece of the orb she was flying towards to open, letting her out as the rest of it began floating back down towards Ponyville. He did have a promise to Aurana and Jade to keep now that those three mares weren't trying to kill him.

When he landed back outside of Aurana's house he knocked again. Things might not have been as rocky as before, but that didn't change the fact that she had once hated him. He may have snuck the kiss in earlier today, but he wasn't about to risk it a second time.

“Oh thank Cel- somepony that you’re back!!” He was surprised by Aurana opening the door, pulling him in for a hug.

"Uh… Aurana, are you ok…? I know we've been getting along better lately, but… Did not expect this. Not complaining though." Silphen said as he returned the hug with a smile.

“You idiot. Three elements of harmony come knocking on my door, and you run off… I was worried you killed somepony…” She sniffed, preventing any snot from getting into his cloak.

Silphen sighed and carried the mare inside. He had some explaining to do about the training he did with the Doom Marines… "So… I do have a small confession to make… It won't affect our world, so no worries there, but…"

“Shh.” She shushed him with her hoof. “No bad news right now… just… please?” He smiled warmly and held her close, humming a quiet tune to her to calm her down.

Silphen then began singing, a deep soothing sound with lyrics that Aurana couldn't place. The only thing that let her know he wasn't casting was the distinct lack of a glow coming from his hands.

She just closed her eyes, leaning against him. She hadn't said anything about him carrying her inside. Eventually, she whispered out, “I didn’t want to stay at first… but Jade wanted to wait for you… then she made friends here, and I couldn’t make her leave after that…”

"Heh… Ain't that just about how life goes…?" He whispered back, leaning against the couch he had Sam make for them. He refused to let her go, no matter what… The only thing he was going to let take her was age or disease… but for now, he sang. The lyrics flowed from him as he let his soul form them… Ashton was silent during the whole thing.

“I… didn’t know how to feel about you after Fuego… you killed a bunch of creatures… and then said you did it because you loved me… nopony normal does that and… And I admit, what you did to those three dragons still scares me…”

"It scares me at night, Aurana… Part of the reason why I stay away is so that I don't accidentally cast something in my sleep and hurt you or Jade. Sam says I've blown holes in his castle no less than eight times by now."

“I know that’s stupid Silphen. I might not be a powerful Unicorn, but even I know that magic requires intent and will.”

"Oh… huh… W-well that still doesn't explain why there's holes in the roof each morning… had to start using mana exhaustion and obsidian cages to keep me safely contained at night…" Silphen said in a disheartened tone. "Or the nightmares…"

“Just… I don’t know either. But I’m sure it’ll pass…” Aurana finally said. She didn’t entirely know what to say. So she just nuzzled into his cloak. He smiled faintly at the sight, and sighed in contentment as he relaxed back into the couch.

"Jade didn't take it too hard when I mentioned the robe, right…? I'd've hated to have made her upset…" He said as he recalled the clay statuette she made of him.

“She already knows it’s terrible. So no, she was more upset that you said that and left instead of telling her though.”

Silphen winced and groaned. "Shit… knew I should've been a bit more honest… Lying to her is hard enough with how adorable she can be, add on her emotion sensing and it becomes impossible…"

“I don’t really think she would have minded if you lied and said it was great either… While I’ve tried taking care of her all this time… She sees you as a father figure.” Aurana said, her eyes closed as she laid in his arms.

"Does she now…? Hope it's not because of my magic… really should've checked to see what would happen before I tossed her through the portal to Twilight's place that night…" Silphen mumbled, the warmth of Aurana in his arms making him start to feel somewhat drowsy.

“Silly. It’s because… well, it’s because this.” She surprised him as she moved her head up, giving him a peck on the side of his snout, which meant the side of his mouth. Before he could reply, she was already drifting off. Silphen blinked at her in surprise, then smiled and cuddled her closer and drifted off to sleep.

Silphen slowly woke up a few hours later, stretching slightly before he realized where he was due to the faint mumble of discontent from his lap. He looked down and saw Aurana still sleeping there and froze, thinking he was in another nightmare before looking around and seeing that he wasn't.

"Oh…" Was all he could say before Jade came in humming a little tune.

“I think you frown too much, Aurana says that if you make a face too much it’ll freeze like that.” She said as she stopped prancing in.

"Ah, right. Hey, Jade, you uh… you can tell if I was having a nightmare, right? And you would've woke me up?" Silphen asked nervously, trying to act like he wasn't having a mild panic attack. He had fallen asleep outside the cage, but was lucky enough to not have been casting in his sleep.

“Why would you be having a nightmare if you’re this happy?” The filly asked like he had said the dumbest thing in the world. “I really think your face is broken.”

He chuckled and patted her on the head. "Right, right… heh… Thanks, Jade. Want me to get you anything? I need to go talk with Twilight about her studies into the book."

“What book?” Jade asked, causing Silphen to facepalm.

He glanced down at Aurana's sleeping form then back up to her. "The darker parts of my book, the one I've had this whole time? Had to transcribe it into equish for her, but I gave her a copy so she could study the magic it contained." Silphen explained, carefully watching Aurana in case she wasn't truly asleep. "But that's a thing I'm going to have to deal with Aurana yelling at me for later… Want me to get you anything from Pinkie's or… yeah, Pinkie is the only one that would have something you'd probably like that I'm on good terms with so far, wow my life sucks here…"

“But you’ve got a job at a fancy castle, you don’t go hungry, and you’re more powerful than a majority of the world, how does your life suck? Oh, and appleberry tart!” She said, remembering that he just offered her free food.

"Hehe… Because even though I have all that, Jade, I still only have enough friends to fill one hand. You, Aurana, Pinkie, Sam, and I feel like I can count Luna with how often she pops in to complain about some weird dream or another," Silphen explained, holding up a finger for each name he gave her. Then booping her on the nose as he carefully extracted himself from Aurana's hold and kissed her on the forehead. "Sleep well, my anchor…"

“Obviously you’re good enough friends with Twilight, and the three mares from earlier didn’t kill you, so that’s three more! Oh, the CMC have also talk about you a lot, so they count!” She said after going cross eyes and shaking her muzzle.

Silphen took a moment to think about that, then smiled faintly and give Jade a kiss on the forehead as well. "Never thought about them… thanks, Jade. Just what I needed to hear. Oh, and I'm sorry about how I treated the statue earlier… I know you were trying your best, but I did just blow it off, didn't I…?" He then opened his palm and created a small marble statuette of the three of them. Aurana on his back, Jade in his lap, and a book in his hand as he was shown reading to them.

He held it out to her with a weak smile as he said,"As an apology… I'll get you three, deal? Just don't let Aurana hear about what I'm asking of from Twilight, ok?"

“Hm… four, and she’ll never even know you were at Twilight’s.” The bundle of fillyness replied conspiratorially after levitating the statuette from his palm.

Silphen chuckled as he gave her a nod. "Four it is then. Just don't spoil your dinner, ok? Last thing I need is her to be mad I got you sweets. Though given how much you eat anyways, I doubt that's gonna be a problem, eh?" He then gave her a wink before heading for the door. "I'll be back in an hour."

She waved goodbye before wandering into the kitchen, entirely unconcerned now that her bargaining of sweets was complete.

Silphen knocked on Twilight's door, whistling the accompanying tune that she had all but demanded that he use so she knew he was alone and wanted to ask about her studies on dark magic. He grumbled slightly as he finished, still waiting for the door to open. The door opened with her magenta shade of magic, although she wasn’t at the door.

He found her downstairs, in a room even Spike knew not to disturb her in, lest he gets turned polka dotted again. She was levitating three books, one of which was his copy, as her horn manipulated a solid piece of rock into different shapes, most of which were non-euclidean, and he had to avert his eyes as he swore one of them was fourth dimensional.

"So… how goes the study into warding your place? She found it yet?" Silphen asked, pinching the bridge of his nose to suppress the headache he had just witnessed. Some things were better left well enough alone, and creating 4D non-euclidean shapes out of stone was one of them since that kind of thing made it shift under different heights, view heights, lighting, and a whole bunch of other things he couldn't even begin to comprehend yet.

“Not really, recently my mentor has been really distracted worrying about her subject's perception of Sam. And still no luck on figuring out warding that wouldn’t alert someone knowledgeable that I’m hiding something. Although this passage on strange entities is promising.” She said, her magical ministrations continuing on as she spoke.

"Strange enti- Ah. Be careful with them. Eldritch and primordial entities are fickle and very hard to perceive the entirety of. You may think you're look at their face, but it could just be a single cell, or their being as it spans all of space-time. Very hard to understand even with Ashton telling me what to relay to you." Silphen said, tapping the side of his head for clarity. "That aside, how goes the shadow magic study? Still slow?"

“Very slow. Quite frankly, most of this magic is liable to kill the pony casting it rather than actually do anything. It’s most advanced applications are basically self transfiguration, and I’m sure I don't have to go into details about how that’s really dangerous.” Her stone shaped into an intangible shape before returning to being rock.

"Yeah, not sure how it all works, but apparently having an affinity for the magic helps out quite a bit. That, and being able to fully envision the spell and what it's doing. I've mainly been running off instinct, so I'm really only good with external offense magic and healing right now," Silphen said as he reached out to tap the stone and make it turn into a perfect sphere. "Getting better with the transfiguration spells though."

The ball of stone turned into a spikey ball before seeming to deflate and inflate at the same time. Soon it seemed to just lay there still, simultaneously inflating and deflating somehow as twilight finally looked at it and with a face of effort, and a bit of sparking of her horn, finally got the sphere to turn back into a perfect circle.

“But apparently haven’t learned the knowledge behind it, while a disrupted transfiguration spell would normally just turn the object or creature back into its normal state, I’ve been casting so many of those spells on this one that when you disrupted mine, it had no idea what to turn into.” She looked at him annoyed, but not more than usual. “So, any new revelations with Sam? Particularly about his whole Interdimensional storage space? It’d be really useful to store stuff in.”

"Ah, actually yes. One of the spells in the enchantment and illusion section should be called 'Bag of Holding'. Should allow you to do something similar to what Sam has, but portable. More along the lines of what I have, actually…" Silphen noticed her raised eyebrow and sighed. He grumbled to himself about keeping quiet and inverted the bag he always carried around, spilling its contents onto the table she had down there. It was far more than should've been able to fit, that much was for certain… and far more than what it's shape entailed.

“So no progress in figuring out how Sam stores entire warehouses of stuff in a single chest?” She asked, disappointed.

"Nope. And honestly, it's best that we don't. Minecraft logic and the laws of reality do not mix. Like the pink one and science." Silphen said pointedly.

“Shame, I really want to know how he does that, since it makes more sense than Pinkie Pie. Any luck in actually finding out about his source?” She asked, putting the sphere of stone down.

"That part we actually have looked into. And… No luck. Ashton tried giving him a tracking Ward to put in his inventory and promptly blacked out, dragging me with him. When we woke up, Sam was shouting at us trying to get one of us to answer him. Ashton still doesn't want to say what he felt happen to it…" Silphen said in a disheartened tone before stumbling.

"Indeed. And I would kindly appreciate it if we stopped trying to find out how Sam's storage works. It's dark and cold in there…" Ashton replied, shivering at the memory before letting Silphen take back control.

“How can a storage medium be dark and cold? Actually, where is the energy to supply all of his feats coming from? At least I can theorize that Pinkie converts all the sugar she eats to perform her feats of impossibility, Discord makes some sort of feedback loop of chaos, but Sam… Most of his feats don’t even give off any ambient magic! Let alone seem to exhaust him.”

"Bucket." Silphen said, slapping the Minecraft Water Bucket he had Sam make him one to see if it would work for him as well. To both of their shock, it did. Somehow…

“I could still theoretically do that with infinite magical power. But I’d have to have enough to practically rewrite the laws of physics. There’s seriously nothing off about him you’ve noticed? You say you and him are from similar places.”

"Originally, yes. Originally, he and I are from a place of no magic. A dead zone. Originally. Now, well… we might as well be apples and oranges getting compared to grapes with all the shit we do. Did you not notice the floating pillar of perfectly cut one meter cube of stone he left just hanging in mid air last week because he fucking could?" Silphen asked, pointing in the general direction of the town hall where said cube of stone was still floating in clear defiance of gravity and reality.

“Don’t remind me, nothing we do can remove it, and discord says it, ‘spices up the joint’, whatever that means, so he refuses to remove it. I know I seem like I’m going overboard on this, but something about Sam is just… off. He admitted that he thought this was a dream when he first came to Ponyville, but he still acts like it is one. I’ve tried telling Celestia about how dangerous this is, but she seems to think it’s normal!” She was worked up, so much so that she gently closed the books behind her and set them down.

"I'd also like to point out, Sam can't sleep without fucking with the day night cycle."

“Okay? Alicorns can function without sleep for weeks at a time… I’ve tried. I’ve never even seen bags under his eyes, let alone any symptoms of sleep deprivation!”

"Twilight… His mind is still that of a mortal, though immortal he may be. How long do you think a standard mortal mind can go before it starts to break if it believes everything it sees as reality?" Silphen asked. "Not very long can it? Sam treats almost everything as a dream to avoid that. It's a disconnect that keeps him sane. Relatively speaking that is, considering he chose the one place more dangerous than-." Silphen snapped his mouth shut to keep from spilling the beans on a certain threat that he was certain wouldn't come to pass, considering Tia was murderous.

He glanced up at the clock and sighed, thankful for the walk back for once. "Sorry for cutting it short today, Twi, but I said I'd be back in an hour. And I still need to go buy Jade's bribe sweets… Want me to leave the bucket here, or take it with me?"

“I’ve already looked at it, take it with you… But just be careful around him, okay? The fact that he’s acting out more and more should say something…” She said, looking at him with a pleading expression.

"I know. I'm worried about him, but I'm more worried about myself. Study long, Twilight." Silphen said as he waved a hand, removing his transfiguration spell on the orb of stone, making it jump as it reverted back to its original shape. Once he had left Twilight's, he went over to Sugarcube Corner bouncing some bits in his palm.

"Hi Pinkie." Silphen said as he stepped inside, ducking below a tackle hug from the pink mare. "Bye Pinkie. Hi Mrs. Cake. Four appleberry tarts, a blueberry muffin, and a slice of green raspberry cake please."

“Coming right up dear.” the light blue mare said as she prepared a paper bag, completely unfazed by what just transpired. Soon she dropped the items in and handed it over. “Thirty seven bits.”

Silphen pulled out his bit bag and counted out the necessary bits, rounding it to 45 as a tip. "Thank you. And if Aurana asks where Jade got them, you never saw me."

“Yup, just another pony buying sweets.” The mare said with a smile, taking the bits.

He chuckled slightly and tipped an imaginary hat to her, rolling out of the way as Pinkie tried to tackle him into a hug from behind. "Hi Pinkie. I'll tell Jade and Aurana you said hi."

"Big meanie! Let me hug you!" She shouted at him, shaking a hoof in mock anger, earning a couple chuckles from some of the patrons at her antics.

Silphen hummed as he returned to Aurana and Jade's, knocking on the filly's window to slide her the tarts before he went for the door. "Hey Aurana." He called out, holding the slice of cake in his hand.

The unicorn in question mumbled as she opened the door. Her mane was messier than usual, and her eyes still had crust in them.

"Here. Figured you'd like a pick me up…" Silphen said as he stepped inside and kissed the top of her head. He did still have the rest of the day to stick around after all.

Chapter 14 (NSFW)

The citizens of Canterlot were bustling throughout the castle. The bakers were baking, chefs creating enough catering for all the citizens that would be attending. The halls were lined with the best decor, and the ballroom was practically fit to host another grand galloping gala. All at the urging of Princess Celestia, who the servants were beginning to suspect had some more personal reasons for putting this event on.

"Please tell me why you are so worked up, sister?" The alicorn of the moon, Luna, asked her sister as they walked down the halls. Truly her sister had seemed more distressed lately, and often went off to some secret place after she had lowered the sun to relax.

"Well… Sam tends to go a bit… overboard with his entrances. Heard that when he first met Twilight he called her by your name. And apparently this happened under a stone pillar he made on top of a tree in the Everfree…" Celestia replied, taking a bite of some cake and sighing, knowing that nothing could match what Sam made her.

“That still does not answer why you’re demanding everything to be perfect, and it is only natural that he happened to call your student by mine, Twilight is still recent to her ascension.” Luna said, shaking her head at her sister’s comfort eating.

"I'm just worried that a certain noble will challenge him and come to regret it… Or that he's going to ride in on an iron carriage pulled by spectral ghosts or something else to that extreme. He does like being flashy…" She said absentmindedly as she took another bite, shifting slightly as she blushed. She was sure Luna already knew about her secret, but she didn't want to confirm it verbally yet.

“Dear us sister, please! I didn’t want to say this in public, but I am sure Sam will accept your advances. Your dreams of him are proof enough that you need it, and I am sure any creature would accept.” Her sister said. “Now please stop eating that slice of cake, your figure is finally starting to catch up.”

"I beg your-!" Celestia stopped, glancing down to her belly, her eyes widening in shock at the revelation. "Uh… Oh, by mother's name, I'm going to be in so much trouble if Cadence finds out…"

“Why wouldst Cadence be… Sister, please tell Us thou hasn’t been keeping a male alicorn a secret.” Luna said as she narrowed her eyes.

"Um… See, it has more to do with the dreams, Sister…" Celestia said nervously, backing up as she debated running.

Luna stepped forward aggressively with a hoof. “While the domain of dreams is mine, you should know as well as I, that dreams cannot get you pregnant!”

"Hehehe…" Celestia chuckled before making a break for the door. "It wasn't just a dream, Sister, I promise!"

With a pop, and a flash of light blue, Luna appeared in the doorway. “Enough sister! You know as well as I, that we are incompatible with all of our ponies, so tell me why you are PREGNANT!"

Luna covered her mouth as the last word came out in the royal canterlot voice.

"Dear Sister… I have no reason to lie to you, and you know that… I'm still the better one at tag!" Celestia shouted back as she teleported… to the back of the room with a look of confusion. "I… what?"

“And I’m still the better one at combat spells sister. Now tell me how you are pregnant if there is no male alicorn.” Luna said, her horn aglow.

Celestia sat down with a sigh of defeat. "Sam did it… Turns out his kind, Minecraftian, can do things that should be impossible for others… That, shockingly, includes impregnating Alicorns…"

Luna herself sat down, but in shock. It should be impossible. Nay, it was impossible… the powers that Alicorns possessed made them all but infirtile. When you got to certain heights of power, certain things just became impossible as magic would intervene as it sought to improve those processes. The alicorn sisters, and Cadence by now, no longer actually required sustenance. They didn’t require the utilities either, and unfortunately, the immune system went along with it. This meant that it required a seed with enough magical potency to effectively already be sentient. And messing with other beings' biology, let alone trying to stuff so much magic into something like that, has disastrous consequences.

“...Those dreams… Why did you not just tell me? Do you truly see me as your lesser, that I cannot be trusted?” She got up and sadly looked down upon her sister. “Are you truly…?”

"Sister, I was scared when he told me… somehow his own magic knew the moment we had finished… coupling… It was not a lack of trust, but a fear of reprisal…" Celestia said, saddened as she tried to come closer to Luna only to see her look away.

“So you thought I would deny you happiness? Am I really that petty to you?” She asked sadly.

"I didn't… I meant… Sister, please, I… I was worried about how the nobles would try to twist this! About… about what happened with…" Celestia stopped, unable to say his name. "With him…"

“That stallion is nothing like what you describe Sam as," Luna started. “His own hubris in his magical capabilities made him lose sight of what was most important. He was a self-centered, egotistical, ponophile!”

"He was not!" Celestia shouted, stomping her hoof as she stood up. "He was not self-centered, Sister, and you know that! He cared for my happiness and didn't want to see me cry, and that's why he turned to that sort of magic! The same that turned you into that Nightmare form!"

“Even before that magic, he would disappear for days at a time! He couldn’t be satisfied with the short time he had with you! He had to want more! He is undeserving already by causing you this much pain! And don’t hide it, I already saw how deeply you were still affected after you sent Twilight in the name of a test instead of us two dealing with him ourselves…” Her voice ran quiet at the end. The one who they argued about truly did not deserve her sister’s affection after all this time… Celestia was chasing an echo, a long ago memory of who the stallion fooled her into believing he was…

"I… N-no! I… I wouldn't…!" Celestia cried out, a flicker of purple crossing over her eyes as she tried to deny what Luna was suggesting. "Th-that's not…!"

“Sister…” Luna said as she moved forward and put her neck around Celesta’s in a pseudo hug. “It’s alright… I’m back, he’s gone… And you’ve already found another who makes you happy… Please, stop worrying.”

"I…" Celestia started, then sighed as a single tear rolled down her face. She returned the neck hug, and said, "Alright… But I'm going to let him know how dangerous it is to let that wolf live with him… it knows too many dark magics."

“Sister, we know thirteen different ways to turn a pony inside out, please, you’ve made today about coming together in peace. If this Sam is so powerful as to impregnate an alicorn, surely he can easily deal with-” Luna was interrupted by the sound of a crash in the distance through the open window. The ponies down below were screaming about an attack! Luna quickly disengaged from her sister and spread her wings. “I shall continue my thought later! Quickly, we must rally the guards!” Her sister scrambled to follow, taking note that her magic didn't seem to fully obey her anymore… It was only slight errors, but they were there. She was pregnant…

Celestia shook her head to clear her head. She instead decided to focus on what was more important than that, and that was the fool that thought attacking Canterlot, the heart of Equestria, was a good idea would soon learn just how wrong the notion was. She had something to channel her irritation at, and not be seen in a bad light for doing so.

Luna leapt out the open window, fully spreading her wings as she glided down towards the city, and where she could see a building in the shopping district had been razed to the ground. There was no fire or smoke however, so whatever had done so did it with pure force. Soon, She alighted down on the ground on the street, her horn aglow as she was prepared to fight some terrible villain…

“Look, I’m really sorry about your shop, I swear, just keep the carriage, it’s probably worth more anyways…” A bulky bipedal figure made of iron said, rubbing the back of its head with a hand in front of an irate mare.

Luna was entirely confused before she noticed Silphen, the wolf who she did recognise standing nearby with a large, as she believed the modern pony said, shit eating, grin on his face.

Celestia recognized the voice as she landed behind Luna, calling out to it in confusion. "Sam…? What is… that? It looks like some strange armor, but… it's pulsing with mana…? And it doesn't feel like it's enchanted, so where's the mana coming from… or doing…?"

"And again…" The bipedal wolf said, wearing robes so heavily enchanted it felt hard to breathe for a second upon seeing them. "I told you so."

“Sunsh- I mean, Celes- Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna, pleasant to see you… I was just apologizing as an unintended spell failure seems to have knocked my iron carriage out of the sky and onto this mare’s property.” Sam said, ignoring Silphen.

"I… you… what?" Celestia asked, confused for the second time that day.

"He said-" the wolf started, but was cut off by Celestia snapping at him.

"I heard what he said, dark mage. Just remember that I tolerate you because you're one of Sam's people, Silphen."

“Ahem. Dear sister, perhaps this conversation should be taken back to the castle, post haste?” Luna said.

“Wait, did she-”

“Nope!” Both Luna and Sam spoke, as they were overtaken by a flash of blue light. When it receded, they were all, sans the mare, inside the throne room which was empty, all of the servants preparing for the peace talks later on.

"And one last ti-" Silphen started, about to say the line again.

“Not another word from you! Magical timers already proved that my plan was infeasible before I make a stronger spellbook!” Sam said before his helmet separated from the faceplate before retreating into his chestplate, his eyes giving Silphen a deathglare.

Silphen, who was smiling ear to ear at this point, put his hands up in defeat. "Whatever you say, Astartes. Just don't throw a Power Chair at me!"

"Astar- I thought your name was Sam?" Celestia asked in further confusion. Today was a weird day, and the only day that topped it was when Discord had escaped.

“It is, Sam I mean, Astartes is just a made up army of warriors.” Sam sighed, Silphen and his references were annoying sometimes.

“My sister was correct in asking before however, what is that armor?” Luna asked, and Sam looked her up and down, for the sister of Celestia, she was kinda… Short. She was an entire head shorter than her sister.

“Power Armor? Although I don’t know why Sunshine asked about magic, this thing runs off pure electricity. And you know, converting heat, kinetic, and solar power.” He finally said.

"Oh. Well then that explains the mana output." Celestia said. "If it's absorbing the latent energy, or mana, of the sun then using it for its own energy…"

"Ah. So solar magic would charge it in much the same way as direct access to a sun… Interesting~..." Silphen said with a mischievous grin as he turned to face Sam once more.

“Okay, I don’t know what that grin is for, but knock it out. While yes, I’ve technically modded this thing to theoretically survive the heat of the radiative zone of the sun, I don’t really want to test that.” Sam said, throwing his arms out in the direction of Silphen as if shooing him away.

“Be calm Sam, nopony here will teleport you into the sun, you shall live another day.” Luna spoke soothingly, Sam turned to her with an eyebrow raised.

“What? I’m not worried about that, I’d be back in a second if someone really did that, no, I’m just not wanting to make the journey back after resurrecting.” Sam said before turning back to Silphen about to speak again.

“What! Sister, thou didn’t say he was practicing magic as foul as Sombra’s!” Luna yelled, pointing a hoof at Sam and looking at Celestia.

Celestia sighed and looked to Sam in exasperation. "You have a bed ready, I assume…? Because I think she might do what I did that first time… Sister, he's not doing the same thing as him. It's just how Minecraftians are. They can be killed, just… not permanently."

During the distraction Silphen whistled innocently as he traced a sigil onto the armor's power pack to generate the same energy as a sun once the light reached a certain threshold. Whether or not it worked was all up to theory and Ashton's grumbling ramblings.

Sam manifested a shield in his hand, it was wooden with an iron edge and seemed like it would do nothing against an actual enchanted weapon, let alone an attack from an alicorn, but he held it up in front of him regardless. “Look, I already crashed an expensive chariot coming here, I’m not- What are you doing Silphen? Hey, get away from there! That’s my coolant line!”

"Wait, what?" Silphen asked just as the sigil began to glow. "Shit… Scatter!" He dove for the throne, erecting a shield against solar magic as he did.

"What?" Celestia asked as well… Seeing the growing fireball of solar magic as it reached her muzzle. "Oh, fu-"

Luna’s horn quickly burst into light blue, extending twice past it’s length as Sam, and the fireball growing around him, was suddenly encased in a light blue bubble, causing the temperature of the room to significantly decrease. Sam, inside the shield with his helmet now back up, turned to look at Silphen cowering behind the throne, his exhausted stare felt through the tinted faceplate and the flames.

"Ok… Before anyone tries yelling at me… I thought that was his battery pack. Was trying to make it so it would have infinite power…" Silphen said from behind his shield, refusing to drop it as Celestia was now glaring daggers at him.

"And what made you think that would be a good idea, dark mage?" The Solar Sister asked in clear irritation.

“Can you two stop bickering like foals, as I believe Sam is trying to communicate…” Luna said through gritted teeth, slightly resenting the fact her sister was arguing with Sam’s hanger on as opposed to helping her keep the flames threatening to burn their castle down to the ground behind thick magical shields. Inside the flames, Sam was pounding his chest before pointing at his back.

"I can fix it, I promise, but I'm not coming out from behind this throne unless the white one promises not to-"

"I won't kill you, since doing so would just be pointless. Now get out here and fix it." Celestia snapped at him, cutting off his demand. She watched as the wolf hurriedly rushed over and dove through Luna's barrier and up to Sam's back.

He said something to Sam, then paused, and said something else. Then he appeared to groan before setting his hands on Sam's back and causing them to glow before the fireball suddenly vanished just as suddenly as it appeared.

"There, happy? Armor's fixed. No more sigil." Silphen said as Luna dropped the shield spell upon seeing that there wasn't a threat anymore.

“Very. Without coolant, my armor was getting scarily close to a few hundred million degrees.” Sam said, his helmet once more retracting.

“W-what? You were alive with that kind of heat?!” Luna said as registered his words.

“I mean, it was the outer layer of my armor, my inner mesh is made of… I… actually don’t know what it’s made of, but it’s super heat resistant right now. I’m actually at a cool, air conditioned sixty seven.” Sam said, although the two ponies looked confused at his use of air conditioned.

"I… Sam, what you're saying makes me almost tempted to call up a certain chaos spirit… What do you mean you're being air conditioned right now? There's no AC unit on you…" Celestia said.

"Minecraftian logic," Silphen said, having started using it as a legitimate answer for anything that broke the laws of reality too badly.

"That…" Celestia sighed in defeat and shook her head. "Fine…"

“Hey, this one I actually have science for! See, I have liquid constantly circling through my suit, shunting heat towards vents… which now that I think about it, aren’t actually on the outside… of my… armor… yeah, Minecraftian logic.” Sam finally shamelessly nodded.

“As much as this conversation was… a conversation, might we return to how you arrived? Why was that mare’s place of business ruined? And what carriage were you offering her?” Luna finally spoke up after a few seconds of silence.

"Sister, I'm fairly certain I had guessed what it was earlier…" Celestia said as she gently nudged Luna.

"So, yeah, you see, what had happened was…" Silphen started.

"The last time I heard that line, Twilight was trying to explain why she smelled of dark magic after saving the Crystal Empire."

“Interesting tidbit, Iron carriage, and temporary magical horses aren’t a good combination when you mix being several hundred feet above canterlot. There, end of story.” Sam said, impatiently embarrassed.

“That still doesn’t-”

“End. Of. Story.” Sam said forcefully, interrupting Luna.

"I told you he'd likely arrive in a carriage made of iron, sister…" Celestia mumbled, just barely audible.

"Hah! See, even your fiance is predicting you now!" Silphen said with a bark of laughter.

“Oh the woes of marriage, such issues that don’t exist in the friendzone… Oh, but you should know, with Aurana and all?” Sam spoke, giving a side grin to the wolf.

"Oh you did not just go there with me, mister 'Let's knock up a royal'!" Silphen shot back, his own grin widening.

Celestia blinked in shock at the exchange. Then turned to Luna owlishly. "Should we…?"

“Ha, at least I haven’t had constant blue balls since I got here! What’s wrong? Hard to knot your own hand?” Sam grinned wider.

“I… probably?” Luna replied.

"Oh yeah? Well at least I'm able to see her for longer than a few hours each night for her booty calls!"

"Wha- You said he didn't know!" Celestia shouted in embarrassment at what Silphen had just exposed to Luna.

“It’s hard not to know when you refused to wear the gag.” He turned back to Silphen. “And at least I get booty calls, when was the last time Aurana held appendages with you?”

Luna stared at Celestia with a raised eyebrow. “And you said my escapades were too loud…?”

"I mean… You did orgies…" Celestia said with a heavy blush as she refused to meet anyone's eyes.

"Yesterday, actually. Things are getting better thanks to you, so thank you for that." Silphen replied, genuinely thanking Sam before getting back at it. "And I'm at least able to get a full day now and then!"

“That sounds fun, invite your sister sometimes, Sunshine!” Sam said, before slapping Silphen on the back gently. “And congratulations! Name me the godfather of your little hoof-holding babies?”

“W-what? Hoofholding- wait-” Luna tried to articulate, completely overwhelmed.

"A'ight, bet. But for now we have business to attend to, right?" Silphen asked, acting as if everything that had just been said was perfectly normal.

"In- Wait, no! We are not just skipping over this! What the buck just happened!?" Celestia called out, her wings flaring as her blush turned her muzzle pink and the tips of her ears red.

“Uh… just a normal conversation?” Sam said, trying to quickly think of an excuse for modern internet conversations.

"One that would make Discord proud…" Silphen said jokingly.

The remark made Celestia raise an eyebrow. "I will call him out…" She threatened.

"You won't," Silphen countered, expecting it to be a bluff.

She turned to the window mural of the serpentine creature and took a deep breath. "DIIIISCOOOORD!"

“You called m’dear?” The smooth voice responded from behind her. He was leaning on her flank with his lion arm while blowing his talons on the other. His serpentine body had to bend to support this angle, and Sam was confused at who this was, as all the animal parts, pony head, mismatched wings, legs of a dragon and… something hooved…

"Discord, did you have a chat with them before they arrived?" Celestia asked bluntly, trying to get her blush back under control. Silphen squinted his eyes at how normal he was acting… almost like he did in that one episode…

“Absolutely not, as I said last time you summoned me, I had nothing to do with them. If you’ll excuse me, I have some business to attend to.” Discord replied vehemently as he snapped his talons, a trilby appearing on his head and a suitcase in his paw as he began to float to one of the glass panes.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Sam asked, entirely confused at the events.

"We need to start ramping up production for that threat I told you about, Sam, that's what…" Silphen said coldly, watching the pane Discord left through.

"Threat?" Celestia asked him before shaking her head. "No time… We should prepare to start the treaty signing."

“Sunshine’s right, besides, you said you’d be able to feel when that happened. Or some magic mambo jambo like that.” Sam said, skipping backwards towards Celestia as he talked.

"Said there'd be a chance of it…" Silphen said with a sigh before stepping beside Luna, giving her a respectful bow and whispering the greeting he gave the Luna of the Doom Marine's world just loud enough for her to hear it.

"Sam, please… At least while in front of the nobles please refrain from using the nickname…" Celestia asked of him with a blush and a shuffle of her wings and hooves.

“Already aware, been schmoozing some circles for the past month.” Sam said as he nodded, while Luna looked at Silphen oddly.

Celestia nodded once, a faint smile on her face from that knowledge. "Thank you, Sam…"

"Part of that is me trying, and failing, to keep him from breaking the nobles' minds with the ideas of you two being together without being married first. Had to rewind time the first time it happened…" Silphen said the last part with a grumble, trying his best to ignore the blush on his face from how stupid he had been, thinking Luna would like the praise.

“The first time was only two weeks ago, after I ran out of excuses to give towards the rumors!” Sam cried out as Luna whispered a small thank you after sorting her confusion.

Silphen's blush sprang back before he coughed into his hand and pulled out the paper from the very first session. "Beg pardon?"

"Is that…? Sam, did you truly get overwhelmed the first time you went to a gentlecolt club?" Celestia asked with a bit of a chuckle.

“Look, they had tables made out of solid copper. Plus, when I found out the drinks, which were more expensive than a single meal, were free with membership… Listen, that was the second best thing I found out about this world.” Sam said with stars in his eyes.

“Second best?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow threateningly. If she wasn’t in his top three…

“Of course you’re number one.” He said, without missing a beat. “Right after Number zero, the fact that I’m lucky enough to actually be with you.” This caused her to blush and whip her tail happily.

“O-oh… Oh my…” Celestia said as she tried to keep from pouncing on him right there.

“Five bits says she drags him off right after the treaty signing,” Silphen said to Luna.

“Ten says she doesn’t wait.” Luna shot back quietly.

“Now come on, we got a treaty to sign, some dancing to do, and probably some awkward drama to sort, there’s always drama during something like this.” Sam said, smiling.

“Deal,” Silphen whispered, shaking Luna’s hoof. “No interference?”

“Y-yes, right…” Celestia said, blushing madly as she was starting to falter in her resolve.

“None will be necessary on my part, Celestia once spent an entire week before So- my banishment fornicating with a stallion, there is a reason I have switched to multiple partners.” Luna shot back.

Sam smiled deviantly, overhearing their conversation, he leaned in quickly and whispered into Celestia’s ear, “Of course, I’m sure I can make it more interesting. I can think of a number of ways we could get away with some fun during the event…”

She shivered and hurriedly made her way to a balcony that had a table on it, and a crowd of ponies below it. “C-Citizens of Canterlot, of Equestria! It is today that we celebrate a momentous occasion, as they may be few in numbers, but their willingness to extend a hand in friendship is enough. Today, we sit down for the signing of peace between Equestria, and the Minecraftians!”

Most of the ponies stomped their hooves as she sat down at the table, Luna coming up behind to sit down, but was surprised as Sam overtook her with a walking stride before sitting next to Celestia. Luna frowned, but nopony else said anything, it had been millenia since an open signing was done, and many didn’t know there was proper etiquette on where every creature sat.

Nonetheless, Luna sat down upon the other side from her sister. Silphen glared pointedly at Sam, letting him know he done fucked up without a saying a word as he sat beside Luna.

“I assume you had meant for us to be in a different sitting arrangement at first…?” Silphen asked quietly.

“Of course, usually the two nations would be on other sides, this leaves a respectable distance betw- He overheard us.” Luna paused as she suddenly quietly blurted out the last part. She made a subtle look over between Sam and her sister, spotting him lightly stroking Celestials rump above her cutiemark…

“Sonuva…” Silphen whispered.

“S-Sam… F-focus…” Celestia whispered as she tried to focus on writing her name on the parchment, then sliding it over to him. He hummed as his hand, thankfully out of sight of the ponies below, although at this point he didn’t think he’d care, reached lower, almost to the cushion Celestia sat on.

These figures were far too low, all of it was going to be Equestria’s after he married of course, but even still, the sum of a few tens of thousands of bits wasn’t even a percentage of his wealth, If he exaggerated just a little bit, it would require him to express this amount in scientific notation.

As Celestia was distracted, he added a few zeros before signing his name, passing it onto Luna, the parchment had four spots, which he assumed was standard, but truly, Silphen didn’t have any stake in his wealth. Celestia’s eyes went wide as she saw him doing that… But also in part of what he was doing with his other hand.

“You know they can’t exactly see up here clearly… you could reciprocate.” He whispered to Celestia as Luna signed the document and paused after looking at the figure, it was a monthly sum, and she was pretty sure no nation on Equis could have enough bits to keep that payment up… She numbly hoofed it over to the wolf next to her, completely missing Sam’s lewdness in her shock.

Celestia glanced down and struggled to keep her wings from flaring out as she carefully reached down with a hoof… then winced as she tapped against his armor. “K-kinda hard to do…”

Silphen looked at the sum, then up at Sam, then back to the sum. He shrugged, knowing that Sam would likely be the one in all of this reality that could actually pull something like this off with a nether roof gold farm.

“Bit too late now, we’ll continue at the ball, I’ve got a latch down there somewhere…” He whispered, innocently removing his hand.

“Ahem…” Luna fake coughed, “shouldn’t we take this display somewhere else.”

“Y-yes… Yes we sh-should…” Celestia said with a blush.

“I suggest we go to a ballroom, and then find the two of you a quiet corner and a glass for you to… play together.” Silphen said with a wink.

Sam nodded, getting up and helping Celestia up, absolutely enjoying her embarrassment as she tried to hide her excitement. Luna got up herself, fighting a blush at the state of her sister.

The ball was starting to get started when Celestia spotted the dark mage chatting with a mare that she had overseen the trial of just over a month ago. “Is th-that the mare he cares f-for…?” She asked Sam, trying to keep her tremble and blush under control. He was doing things with his hand she never thought were possible before.

“Of course, though it’s slow going.” Sam replied, once more glad for his durability, as Celestia was very much sitting on his hand as he fingered her, there was a little give as he pushed three fingers in and out, occasionally smirking as she had to bite her lip when her own clit winked out and hit his thumb.

“Now I believed you were excited about reciprocating?” He whispered as he had forced the suit’s crotch open, it’s intended purpose was for urination, but he’d improvised. And none of the ponies could see them in this far off wall without sidling directly next to them. He looked over as he saw Luna all alone.

She blushed as she nodded, using her magic to wrap around his cock, making it feel like she was giving him a blowjob. “I-indeed.”

Silphen glanced at Luna with a blush as he kept talking with Aurana. Who seemed to be trying to encourage something to happen…

Sam grunted as Celestia started using her magic. “No fair… At least I’m using my limbs.” He looked over at the lonely alicorn as she began walking towards Silphen and Aurana semi-confidently, He stopped following as he focused on using his other hand and slightly rubbed the base of Celestia’s horn, making it look like he was feeling her mane.

She moaned softly as she tried to focus. “Y-you can hide it b-better…”

Silphen was blushing madly as he tried to dissuade the duo from something. Though it looked like Aurana was just egging on the princess.

“You don’t… Think your magic isn’t obvious? Mm … I’m really tempted to ravish you… here” Sam grunted out, what she was doing felt really great, so much so that he sneakily wrapped his fingers around her horn before giving a short yank, like he would to his own cock, before letting go before anyone saw. He thought he saw Luna swish her tail in view of Silphen before he had to focus back on the matter at hand.

“Nmm~! Y-yes, w-well I h-have a drink~...” She replied, trying to avoid making too much noise.

After the encouragement from Aurana, Silphen and the mare followed Luna upstairs…

“You’re liking this too much… I think you enjoy the fact I’m pleasuring you infront of all your subjects…” Sam smirked as he felt Celestia clamp down on his fingers. “You’d like it if I pounded you, right here in front of all of them…I’ve read the laws, you could order them to do nothing but watch as I pounded their perfect princess pony’s pussy.”

She covered her mouth as she came, casting the spell that made him do so as well. She couldn’t fully muffle her cry of bliss, earning a few looks from some of the nearby nobles, causing her to blush madly and flare her wings in shock. “Oh buck me, this will be torture…”

Silphen was blushing madly as he watched the two mares on the bed. He had somehow let the duo convince him to be tied up and sat on a chair. “P-please just let me-”

“Quiet.” Luna called out as on top of the spell holding their labia apart so he could see inside, she cast a spell to force his mouth shut, she then resumed making slow gentle motions with her wings against Aurana’s thighs. “You shall get your turn from both of us once we are properly warmed up.”

Aurana blushed at the soft touch of Luna’s wings, and the magic gently massaging her down there. “I-I’m pretty sure I’m already ready…”

Silphen struggled fruitlessly against the ropes, watching as Luna teased Aurana and herself in front of him.

"Oh very well, virgins, I swear…" the lunar mare muttered as she removed herself from Aurana, slinking around Silphen's chair before ending up with her muzzle merely a foot away from Silphen's own growing erection.

Luna levitated Aurana off the bed, plopping her on the other side. "First things first, we must make sure the stallions are ready, since you didn't want to leave him out, it's time for a hooves on aproach."

"Wha-" Aurana began before Luna forced her muzzle into Silphen's crotch, her surprise gasp sending tingles of warm air over Silphen's wolfhood. It was joined by another, this time with a warm tongue as Luna dove in, taking a quick lick at the side of his rod. Aurana, emboldened by Luna, carefully took a lick of her own, blushing when hers and Luna's tongues met.

Silphen moaned again as he leaned his head back, his blush growing brighter as he did. He could have dispelled whatever was keeping him quiet, but he was having fun with it, so he let it stay.

Luna smiled as she trailed the length to the tip, Aurana following along later like a lost puppy. Upon the second pass however, Luna pulled Aurana in for a kiss, their tongues playing across Silphen's tip as they mashed muzzles. Soon, Luna disengaged, using her magic to slightly guide Aurana, she soon had the younger mare sucking on the tip, as Luna returned to the base, trying to tease the last of his erection free.

Silphen knew he shouldn't be enjoying this… He knew he should be disgusted by what was happening… But that piece of his mind was quickly silenced and killed by the rest, and Ashton, being tired of not being able to get off properly for over a month now. He whined as he felt Luna and Aurana keep teasing him, but couldn't quite get enough strength to thrust up into their mouths.

Aurana surprised them both as she suddenly descended half way, her warm mouth enveloping his member before she found out why doing such a thing unprepared was a terrible idea, she backed up quickly as she coughed. Luna gave her a sympathetic stare before engulfing his member herself to keep him hard. She took him down to his slowly swelling knot, holding him there as her throat squeezed around him.

Soon, Aurana recovered enough to take back over, as Luna removed herself with a wet slick sound. Instead of returning to Silphen's base however, she slunk around Aurana, her head disappearing behind the smaller mare's behind as Aurana jolted before resuming her ministrations.

Silphen raised an eyebrow before whimpering in delight as he tried not to cum too soon. He didn't last very long, sadly, before filling Aurana's maw with his wolf spunk. He looked down at her with sympathy as he panted… And realized he was still hard.

It was hard to keep track of how many spells Luna had going at the moment, she was keeping Silphen quiet, constantly teasing their marehoods, she kept Aurana's head in place during the wolf's orgasm, and she was also making sure he wasn't exhausted too soon.

Aurana seemed unsure what to do as she popped off Silphen's rod, her mouth slightly dribbling his load out the corner before she swallowed, making a face.

"A good beginning, but both of us are hungry for more. Unfortunately, that seat we had brought up from the guest room is unsuitable for our next plans…" Luna said, as she levitated Aurana back up to the bed. Before the ropes around Silphen dropped away, Luna crawled up on the bed, being surprised as instead of quietly laying there, Aurana gently pushed the princess on her back, ploping her plot on Luna's face before using her hooves to stretch the princess's Labia apart.

"Come fuck her stud… oh, she's actually pretty wet… maybe teach her a lesson, use her backdoor first…" Aurana said with a smirk.

Silphen rubbed his wrists lightly before smirking and tapping his muzzle, the sound of shattering glass briefly filling the room as he removed the spell keeping him quiet.

"If you want me to do so, then I will… And I think I'm well lubed up, so…" He then pressed up against Luna's tailhole with a moan, slowly sliding in.

"This is… unfair…" Luna moaned, before Aurana silenced her by sitting back down. She leaned over, occasionally returning the favor licking sloppily at Luna's marehood. Silphens cock went in smoothly, the lack of resistance showing both how willing Luna was, and her experience.

"S-so… D-do you do this o-often…?" Silphen asked Aurana as he began thrusting into the alicorn's ass, moaning loudly as he did. Aurana removed herself from Luna's marehood her muzzle matted wet.

"Nope… it's not my first time… well, it is with this whole thing…" she moaned out before diving back down. Luna was starting to clench. And she was also close, Luna was an absolute goddess when it came to eating her out…

"Oh… I think we're close… knot her… then fucking knot me!" Aurana screamed out as she clenched on Luna's tongue.

"W-with…" Silphen grunted as he pressed himself all the way to the base, knotting Luna as he exploded deep inside her ass. "Pleasure~!"

Luna clenched down, her ass milking him as her own orgasm trembled through her. She still kept up the spell, and his knot seemed useless as she removed him from her the moment she came down off her high.

"In return… ass or vaj, Silphen…" Luna said as she levitated aurana off of her, slowly turning the mare around.

"I… Hoo… I think I'll go ass for this time… Don't want to risk knocking her up yet." Silphen said as he kissed Aurana, teasing her tailhole with one of his fingers.

"S-Silph-!" Aurana breathed out as she tensed around his finger. She was cut off at the surprise of something meaty hitting her stomach. Looking down, she saw that Luna was now sporting an ethereal equine rod.

"Oh. Huh… Did not know you could do that, Luna…" Silphen said before smiling and kissing the two mares he was lucky to be in bed with right then…

Chapter 15

Sam had just come back up to the surface for some fresh air when Silphen slapped down the paper for that day and tapped a finger on the front page, saying, "Two things. First, explain why you're on the front page. Second, you got a letter from some group called the Sanguine Council claiming you need to pay a tax for starting your Vamp Lineage."

Sam looked at the paper, glad for his fiance’s white fur, the title of the page being, ‘Princess gone Sexual!? New Prince Declares Engagement!’ He didn’t need to read it to know how they had surprised everypony at the ball.

“Look, there’s not really a lot of harm done, we already discussed declaring the engagement, and a tax? You know as well as I do, not to even entertain scams like that.”

"Asked a Dawnwalker on the way back about it, Lining's spreading your Lineage by the way, and it turns out that there's a hierarchy to being a vamp. Seems someone in the highest spot available thinks you're weak and need to be brought to heel." Silphen said as he set the letter down in front of him. "Couldn't read all of it though, since I don't really have the microscopic vision needed for the tiny lettering near the end."

“How much are they asking for? I’ll just pay it off, and then when me and Celestia get married in a few months, I’ll just come down on them with some sort of legal precedent if they continue bugging me. Seriously, I have better things to worry about, like the things that keep attacking my mining carts.” Sam said flippantly, he had already promised most of the wealth he wasn’t using to Equestria, which would just return to being his after the marriage. A few thousand bits wasn’t going to exactly bankrupt him.

"About four gallons of blood. A week," Silphen said. "Assuming I didn't misread that… It was getting pretty small near there, so you'll need to check yourself."

“Give that here.” Sam said, grabbing the letter and reading it. “They don’t want just four gallons of blood a week, they specify pony blood… These guys are sick fucks! And I’ll have a talk with Lining later about what she’s doing.” He added as an afterthought, already moving to his workshop.

“My own thoughts about this null, We don’t even have one pint of pony blood, let alone four gallons! Or thirty two pints! The average pony can only lose a single pint, they aren’t like humans, where it’s no big deal!” He rambled off to Silphen as he grabbed a lot of items from some chests before moving towards a large metal table, holographic displays of sections of his power armor filling the air above it.

"If I could heal them long enough, we could pull it off, but… Fuck, this is going to be hell… Want me to come with you, or does it specify that you can only bring Lineage members with you?" Silphen asked rubbing the bridge of his muzzle in clear agitation at this group.

“They don’t even say Lineage members, but fuck them, I’m not paying this. I need you in Ponyville in case they decide to pull some bullshit like attacking Lining and the members she’s made, you’re able to conjure a sun, I’m not.” Sam started moving the holograms around, moving wires and parts.

"Got it. You come back with any missing limbs, and Tia will have my head on a platter." Silphen replied before heading out, not trusting this 'Council' to not have day time creatures they employ as pawns and messengers. Of both varieties.

Sam chuckled as he put the covers back on the holographic displays of his armor. He wasn’t going to need his spellbook for this one… no, he was going to show them the terrifying might of messing with him like this. He had just pumped every modular assist he had to max. He’d change it back afterwards, but he also changed his armor’s color scheme from his white and grey look to black and white, with a red visor. These assholes wanted a vampire, they were getting one.

He took a careful step, having already moved a quarter of the room in that step. He chuckled as he felt none of the momentum, unlike with the speed buff. Soon, he was racing through the castle, he had no way to fly to Canterlot, so he had to once more take the teleport pad Silphen had created. He hated Silphen’s teleportation, which made him feel really squished.

He walked up to the manor, from what little he knew from his month of schmoozing the nobles, it belonged to one of the oldest noble families. His servo-motors were whirring as he held back from moving too fast. He grabbed the knocker holding it up before bringing it down with a bang. The wood dented inward at the point of contact.

A minotaur like from the Greek legends opened the door and bowed. There were two small divots on his neck, indicating that Sam was in the right place. He looked to the door and sighed before opening it all the way. "Right this way, sir."

Sam nodded, his footsteps heavy even through the carpet as he stepped inside. His armor glowing red in the darkness of the Manor, all of the windows not only tinted, but then covered in black curtains. He Followed the minotaur down several flights of stairs, each one sparsely decorated, until eventually they were carved out of the stone of the mountain itself.

The minotaur bowed to the side of a carved double door, the carvings depicted three ponies, each of the different races, coming together around the bleeding corpse of a unicorn, the moon high above, and strange mist like equines flying through the air.

He pushed the doors aside with little effort, the grinding noise they made told him the doors were resting against the stone floor. Inside, nine ponies took up seats on raised platforms. As he walked towards the center, which he noticed had a covered skylight, the center three were different races of ponies, with the other six, three on each side of them, being a random assortment.

From left to right, the leftmost pony was an old earth pony mare, her auburn coat was faded, and her eyes were continually closed, although her head followed him inside. Next had Sam blinking, thinking something was going on with his vision, as there was a yellow unicorn, he was smiling at the hooded figure next to him, full teeth, which had no visible fangs. The hooded figure, well he couldn’t tell what type of pony they were, but they had a chained necklace with a red teardrop.

The three ponies in the middle were a unicorn, winged batpony, and earthpony respectively. The unicorn was a dark blue, having some sort of thin silver chain wrapped around her horn. The winged pony was a dark shade of gray, looking a lot like the night guards Luna employed. Finally, the earthpony was bulky, being a light shade of red, if his frame of reference wasn’t off by the high seats, which made them tower over him, the vampony was nearly as tall as Luna.

Finally, after him was a ruby colored mare, another unicorn, who was smiling as her eyes very clearly traveled up and down his armored form. He was barely surprised to see the next pony, being a small white earth pony filly, her smile cute, despite the fangs. She nodded at him in a cute way before he moved on to the-

Was that pony wearing sunglasses? Or tinted glasses? And a red coat. The Stetson placed on the bench in front of him was probably his. His dark red coat moved oddly into a light purple unicorn horn, and he looked to be the only one sitting back in his seat, almost like a human would with his front hooves placed together as if linking fingers he didn't have.

He stepped into the center of the room with a large sound of metal on stone. All discussion stopped as they stared at him, before the center Vampony spoke up.

“Dawnwalker Progenitor, you are here to pay tribute to the council, as the expressed form of payment of four gallons of blood is not here, I suspect you have decided that you are better off without the oversight of vampire kind. In which we express your terms to be-” He was interrupted by the coat wearing pony.

“Hold on, maybe he’s got some actual explanation for why he doesn’t have the blood. Maybe he drank it all on the way here, you know how newbies can get around blood.” He grinned, Sam clenched his fist, none of the ponies here recognised the gesture of anger.

“Or perhaps he never intended to pay fleshstealer.” the yellow unicorn on the left pointed at Sam with a hoof.

“Can’t you two ever get along?” The filly asked, frowning. And Sam was starting to get upset, they called him here, and were wasting his time.

“Enough you three, Dawnwalker, why have you not come with tribute?” The large earthpony said.

“I came here to tell you your terms are bullshit. Hell, make it some number in bits, I would gladly pay it, but thirty two pints of pony blood?” He asked, his faceplate made his found sound more staticy than without.

"Indeed?" Asked the mare that kept her eyes closed, turning to gaze at the ruby unicorn in the center of the group. "Why so much, Mistshaper?"

"It was not my idea, Etherian. Should turn your prophetic eyes upon the Lymphaticus." The other mare shot back, her eyes glaring in return.

“The number fits, already his lineage is fifteen strong, unless he is admitting he has no control over his line? Are you declaring incompetency Dawnwalker?” The center Vampony asked.

“I hope not, a progenitor with no control gets his entire line exterminated.” The stallion with a coat said.

“Lining is the one who actually knows about the lineage, I’m just-”

"Perhaps he should be bled, and had his 'gift' spread among the other Lineages. If his blood had the blessing of the Solar One and was thus able to turn one of the Lymphaticus into a Dawnwalker…" the pony in the red hood that kept their face covered mumbled, just loud enough for those in the room to hear.

"Doubt that would work, but… Well I could see if it works, all he'd have to do is take his helmet off!" The filly said happily from her spot, gazing at Sam hungrily.

“You aren’t getting any of it, even if you could.” Sam spat out.

“Please, everypony calm-”

“So you’re rejecting even trying to help Vampony kind? Many wish to walk amongst the day once more.” The yellow mare spoke, interrupting the large earth pony.

“I think he’s come here out of sheer stubbornness to reject the council.” The coated pony said happily.

"EVERYPONY, SILENCE!" The unicorn in the center shouted, her voice booming with power that washed over Sam. "Etherian, what do your eyes see?"

"They see death and life fighting down several paths. I dare not gaze too far ahead, as doing so proved me wrong time and time again. No, I shall simply say that-"

“Look at him Etherian, is he truly here just to spite our prestige?” The middle vampony interrupted her.

She sighed and turned to one of the blindfolded ponies behind her and whispered to them. They looked in Sam's direction and removed the blindfold, revealing weary eyes… before the servant's head exploded into a fine red mist.

“You dare!” the middle vampony spoke as they all stood up in shock. Sam would have looked confused if he didn’t have his faceplate up.

“You meanie!” The filly spoke, pointing a hoof at him.

“Pretty sure this counts as hostile to the council.” The stallion next to her said out loud.

“Couldn’t they have seen-” The Earth pony tried to speak before being interrupted again.

"DAWNWALKER!" The unicorn in the center shouted, standing up, focusing everything she could muster against him. "YOU WILL SPEAK TRUTH AND YOU SHALL TELL US WHAT HAPPENED OR YOUR LINEAGE SHALL BE ERASED!"

“Let Sal’isn taste his essence!” The hooded pony spoke, the old mare near him still looking away in shock.

Sam spread his feet apart, raising a fist to the council. His shoulder vents opened as the whirring of air and motors increased. “While I have no fuckin clue what happened, I’ve had enough of your demands! If you want to get to my Lineage, you’ll have to go through me first!”

The room burst into a flurry. Sam slid backwards as the coated stallion jumped from his position and landed in front of him, sliding a few feet. He quickly raised his arm as globs of blood splattered across it, quickly using his other hand to tear the mass off once they began reaching around his arm towards his faceplate. He threw the mass at the yellow unicorn charging at him.

As they skidded to a stop, now unable to see, he had to move sideways, dodging the filly whose small body landed with a bounce. He ducked as the normal batpony swooped overhead, only to be bucked across the room by the Stallion in a coat.

He gritted his teeth, breaking the sparkling blue magic holding his arm as he backhanded the batpony, sending them careening into the stone floor.

The stallion with a coat discarded it, his back revealed two dark blue pegasus wings which he flapped once, ignoring as his coat landed on the dazed filly, he flew towards Sam. Sam was ready, his fist cocked-

"ENOUGH" the deep voice echoed, before the stallion's momentum was arrested by being landed upon by an earthpony, the large, light red one specifically. With a hoof on the stallion’s back, he glared around the room.

“From the start, none of you have let the Neonate Progenitor speak! Do any of you keep up to date on current events anymore?” The earth pony spoke, his tone deep and grave.

“His line is capabl-”

“Enough Frosty Tips!” The Earthpony interrupted the batpony. “He has admitted that he is incapable of paying the tax that the council trusted you to fairly calculate. This is the future king of day! Or have none of you read the current news? Shining Bliss, are you going to tell me that none of the Lucitus participated in the ball three days ago?”

“I…” The dark blue unicorn stuttered at his gaze.

“And finally, you Mange, or should I address you like the Neonate you’re acting like? Do not think I haven’t seen you egging on this conflict. If you wish to fight the Dawnwalker Progenitor, challenge him with grace, and accept the humiliation when you lose.” The Earth pony growled.

“Clear View, please… Why has this happened? Why has your progeny perished…?” He asked, looking back towards the older mare.

She looked towards him, her eyes still closed. “Darkness, nothing but the infinite nothingness in all directions… Our world is doomed…”

“Then we kill the Dawnwalker! If he is at fault-”

“Enough Myst!” The earthpony snapped at the ruby mare still sitting in her seat. “Changing fate requires much more than killing a single entity! And even if it would, you would set our kind back a millenea for it? The Solar Princess would quickly restart the crusade against our kind for killing her lover!”

“Then what do we do!” The filly spoke.

“We do what we originally came here for, a new lineage has been born, and we will welcome them, properly. Frosty Tips, Shining Bliss, we will act like the leaders of the council we are. Dawnwalker, take center once more.” The earth pony spoke, traveling back to the stands, the others followed suit, and the stallion with the odd colored limbs retrieved his coat and rubbed the spot on the back of his neck where the earth pony stood. Sam took center once more, his arms crossed.

“Now, all in favor of lifting the tribute, stomp your hoof.” The earthpony said, stomping his hoof twice upon the bench. Clear View stomped hers slowly twice, The hooded pony followed. The center two, Frosty Tips and Shining bliss followed reluctantly. Nopony else followed.

“We have a majority for the vote, notion passed.” Frosty Tips said, “the tribute shall be dropped. Now, before proper introductions, we must deal with this fate of darkness. Since we have already forgone etiquette… Clear View, How much can you see?”

“Barely a year forward… all paths lead to one, and in that one… an oppressive blackness, so much so that I dare not probe…” The old mare replied.

“Alright, so I’ll just beat whatever causes that, I’m functionally a true immortal.” Sam said, all of them turned to him.

“Dawnwalker progenitor, Understand that the stakes are higher than you think you know." The earthpony gently said.

"And understand that I am unable to truly die, my body may be destroyed, but I will always rebuild it."

"...like the mad king?" Myst asked, her face fearful.

"Everybody keeps mentioning this guy, but only in snippets, who the fuck is he?" Sam asked, annoyed. All the council was silent as they looked at eachother. Eventually, Frosty tips spoke up, carefully, almost gently.

"The mad king, Sombra… is the worst vampony in existence… the story is long, so I sha-"

"Tell me." Sam demanded.

"Pardon? That is-"

"Look, we've dropped etiquette, I need to know all I can about this guy, he's immortal, right? So he's still kickin?" Sam interrupted him.

"Well, yes… and no…"

"Look, I don't care if this guy is in a schrodinger cat situation. Just tell me his full damn story so I can think of the best way to sock the guy." The batpony sighed at his declaration.

"Sombra's tale starts innocently enough. King of the frozen north, and then the princesses came to him. He became enamored with the Solar Princess, but he couldn't live with one truth, that he would die."

As Frosty Tips stopped speaking, the earthpony beside him started. "He was the only one to willingly take on our curse, and his rage and desperation twisted it. His powers were that of darkness itself, but he was still unsatisfied with an unaging body."

Shining Bliss spoke up next. "So he delved into dangerous magics, it started innocently enough, healing magic, used for the dying, then he started on necromancy… until one day, he covered the entire Frozen North in darkness. Many had rose up in defiance, but any wound he sustained would merely break into shadowy mist, before reforming… he was truly unkillable… and he went on to enslave the northern Citystate of the Crystal Empire…"

"So he's still there?" Sam asked.

"Nay, the two princesses banished him, and the current Element bearers destroyed his physical form with the help of an artifact after he freed himself." The earthpony spoke.

"That doesn't make any sense, I thought you said he was unkillable?" Sam asked.

"For many with such power, the physical and spiritual are truly separate. The sisters would survive to recover, even if all that was left was a wing, we do not know what Sombra has done for such power… but even the destruction of his corporeal form won't truly kill him." Shining Bliss spoke.

"Now that your curiosity is sated Dawnwalker Progenit-"

"Sam." Sam said, interrupting the earthpony.

"Pardon?"

"My name is Sam. Look, screw formality, if the world is doomed, we can't be at eachothers throats."

The earthpony paused briefly, regarding him. "Ambrose… that is my name."

"Alright. Now that I know that, Ambrose, I'll tell you what I'll do on my part. This suit of armor I'm wearing isn't even at full power yet, since it requires materials that I can't find. I'm going to get those somehow."

"What materials would be so hard to aquire with your current status?" Shining bliss asked.

"Ender pearls." Sam answered, and all of them looked at eachother, seeing if any recognized the name.

"We are sorry, but none of us know where you might find some…" Ambrose finally said. "Unfortunately, the threat may not even be that which can be fought…"

"Of course it can be fought! Hell, what world ending threat can't? Just because we don't know what it is, we know when though, right? How much time do we have?" Sam argued.

"Clear View?" Frosty tips asked, looking at the old mare.

"It is hard to tell, as always, but all paths begin diverging into one in a few months time… and after half a year… only one remains…" Clear View softly spoke.

"We should inform the ponies, they will need to know." Myst spoke up.

"We can't." Sam started. "First of all, we only have our word to prove this. Even I'm not completely sure that you're right, but the things I do are weirder than some future sight."

"Sam is right," Ambrose spoke up. "Further, the equestrian forces are meant for domestic situations or monster attacks, not for world ending catastrophes. The Vamponies are on their own…"

"You're wrong, just because Equestria doesn't have a strong enough military, doesn't mean there aren't other nations who would." Sam argued his hopeless declaration.

"None of them are on good footing with Equestria, and half of them have retreated into isolation." Ambrose countered.

"Then we get them to leave isolation! I know of at least the griffons, the dragons, the zebras, and the changelings." They all winced at the mention of the changelings. "I'm sure you know more that I don't! As the one willing to do this, and as prince consort, let me make alliances with these other nations to help us."

"You said it yourself, the ponies won't believe us, so why would the leaders of other nations do so?" Shining bliss said, causing Sam to stop and think for a moment.

"I don't know, but without knowing even an estimate of your numbers, I doubt the Vamponies can cover the entire globe. What happens when the disaster starts across the sea? Or in the far north? I'm not asking permission to try, I'll be going to these other nations regardless. And after I make these alliances, I'll get the ponies on board."

"We cannot say anything against your effort, the era of secrets passed when Luna returned. We shall rally the lineages, prepare them for what is coming… Dawnwalker Sam, I suggest you do the same…" Frosty tips said, Sam nodded, turning around as he swung open the stone doors once more, not looking back as he ignored the minotaur, and ascended to Canterlot.

He had a lot of work cut out for him..

Chapter 16

Silphen was busying himself while Sam was in the nether. After his visit to the council, Sam had decided that any risk was less than world destruction. He was trimming the weeds around the castle walls, keeping them from getting too tall so that they could spot Timberwolves as they approached rather than being surprised each time when the gates opened and there was a wooden wolf construct. Sam and him had figured out they were constructs when Silphen's life magic, specifically the one that let him transfer wounds, didn't affect them at all.

Silphen's ears twitched as he heard a motor and turned to see Scootaloo and her buzzing wings flying down the trail with the red wagon attached to her scooter. He smiled faintly before noticing that there were three passengers onboard instead of the usual two… Jade was with them, and she looked to be unconscious.

"What happened to Jade?" Silphen asked when they got closer.

"We stopped a weird looking changeling from foalnapping her!" Scootaloo replied eagerly.

"Is that so…?" Silphen said coldly as he approached Jade and checked her heartbeat, sighing in relief when it was slow, but not stopped. "She's asleep, meaning that it's either chemically induced, which I can't help with using my magic, or magically induced, which will be fairly easy. Did they hold a rag or something up to her muzzle by any chance?"

"Well…" Sweetie Belle started, rubbing her left foreleg.

"We don't know…" Applebloom admitted with a hint of shame as she looked down. "We just saw her unconscious on the back of some weirdly colored changeling, and kinda… assumed the worst…"

"Good on you lot for that. Damn, I hate the fact that there's more than just the single Hive to deal with… No matter, we can worry about that later, need to focus on healing Jade… hopefully…" Silphen mumbled the last part to himself as he set his hands on the filly and began casting a healing spell, causing his hands to glow green… And then his face fell as he realized that she wasn't waking up.

"FUCK!" He shouted, throwing a fireball up into the air, away from them all.

'Ashton, how long does chloroform last?!' Silphen asked his other half, turning his attention inward while he held Jade close.

'Not long enough for those three to get here with a single half dose as what their story implies. They might be lying…' Ashton replied worriedly. He knew what would happen if Silphen died, it was his own body afterall, so he feared Silphen losing himself once more.

"That so…?" Silphen asked verbally, a slight frost emanating from around him as the heat of the area began to fade. "Scootaloo, what weapon does Sweetie Belle use again?"

"Huh? You mean her frisbees?" Scootaloo asked in confusion.

"Shit…" Silphen sighed out as he collapsed to the ground, the heat returning to the area. "Ashton almost convinced me you three were Changelings… But if you're not, and I can't wake up Jade because it's chemical based… most likely means it's not chloroform…"

"They were touching horns while the changeling's was glowing, does that help? And they're Chahk-rahm." Sweetiebelle said, before pointedly looking at Scootaloo and correcting her.

"Fris… Bees…" Scootaloo shot back, smiling faintly. It was now clear she was doing it on purpose.

"Gods be damned. Yeah, it helps. And I'd give up on correcting her, girls, because that's about the only way to tell her from any fakes," Silphen said as he shook his head and tried to get Ashton to look into her dreamscape in an attempt to guide her back out. He was disappointed and even a little heartbroken to find out that she would need time or another Changeling to awaken safely.

"Well? Is she waking up?" Applebloom asked, taking a step forward inquisitively.

"No… not unless we find a Changeling and tell them to wake her up, or wait for whatever the hell is going on to pass… we can't do anything…" Silphen took a shuddering breath to hold back his fears at telling Aurana and how the mare he loved would react.

"That's uh… not good..." Applebloom nervously looked away while scuttling a hoof on the ground, the other two made their own nervous movements.

"Yeah… Hey, you girls know where they came from? Or was it just the one Changeling?" Silphen asked as he stood and beckoned for them to follow him inside, pausing when he realized that the castle wasn't safe for Jade and turning for the teleportation pad instead. If he had to take Jade somewhere safe, he'd have to tell Aurana or take her with him.

"It was just the one, I think. Ran away pretty quick when we started hitting him with our stuff," Scootaloo said as she and the others followed, still nervous about something.

"Alright, what are you three hiding, considering it's not the fact you're all Changelings?" Silphen asked, finally catching on to their behavior.

"... So we've been trying to follow Jade home for weeks now since she refused to tell us where she lived-" Applebloom finally said after being stared at for several seconds.

"She'd somehow always lose us, but today we were following when the Changeling surprised her-" Sweetiebelle continued Applebloom's explanation.

"And we had no idea where her parents lived or worked, so we came here immediately without telling anypony!" Scootaloo finished, using the other two's backs as leverage to push her higher into standing on her hind legs.

Silphen sighed and shook his head, smiling faintly as he knew that her mistrust wasn't wholly unfounded. "Because of how she grew up, she doesn't trust easily. Let her decide when to show you three, that way she doesn't feel the need to lie and hide, alright? That's all I'm going to say on the matter." Silphen said as he sat the filly on the ground and began working on creating a smaller temporary version of the teleportation circle so that he and the others could return to Ponyville.

Once the circle was prepared, he motioned for the trio to go first, intending on sending them to the town square before he went to Aurana's place directly.

The three stepped up, disappearing in a small, quick flash. Once they were gone he changed a couple runes, keeping his senses on high alert as he did, and teleported himself and Jade directly to Aurana's kitchen.

"Aurana! Jade almost got foalnapped by a Changeling!" He called out, using a pulse of magic to try and quickly locate her. The pulse revealed nopony inside the house. After a few seconds of silence, the commotion outside grabbed his attention. "AURANA!" He shouted as he ran outside, still clutching the filly as close to himself as he could.

Ponies were running back and forth, upturning any object they could in search of something. Silphen growled a little, stepping forward and letting his control over the local magic be felt, making sure they were looking his way. "What are you all looking for? If it's the filly in my arms then there's about to be a very large problem…"

"If'n yer the one who took mah-"

"Applejack, please!" The voice of Aurara interrupted the farmpony. Pushing her way past the mare, she looked at Silphen pleadingly. "Please tell me you aren't behind Applebloom and her friends going missing…"

Silphen sighed as he relaxed, shaking his head. "No. The crusaders stopped a Changeling from foalnapping Jade, and brought her to Sam's castle. I teleported the trio to the town center so you can find them there. Sorry about coming off so aggressive…"

"WHAT?! You, me, inside, now!” The mare said, her eyes narrowing as she pushed Silphen back inside with her horn, slamming the door behind them. Applejack looked at the door a few seconds longer, stunned. Eventually, she shook her head and muttered under her breath before walking off towards the town center.

“Right, what color were they, did they have a unique dorsal fin? Did they speak in a funny accent?” Aurana shot off question after question towards Silphen as she ran through the house opening up closets. Each one she’d toss miscellaneous items out before levitating them two at a time back inside and shaking her head.

"Dunno," Silphen replied, starting with the first question. "They said it was weird, and that's all. We could ask Jade, but apparently they touched horns and she fell asleep. Can't wake her up so I'm thinking it's a chemical based knockout."

“You’re half right, but they didn’t use a chemical, rather, not one outside of her body.” She paused her ransacking of her house to lift an eyelid of Jades, inspecting it. “How long has she been like this? Three, four hours? If so, we need to hurry, forty four hours before we start running into issues.”

"How long have the crusaders been missing? Add an hour for travel to Sam's castle and that's how long. If I knew what was going on, I might be able to help, but you need to tell me what's going on. Is she being hunted by this hive for doing something?" Silphen asked as he set Jade down, quickly creating a barrier circle that would keep anyone but himself and Aurana out.

“No time, no ling should be nearby, this close to national heroes.” She said, rushing off to sort through another closet.

"Tell me what you're looking for Aurana, so I can help. Please…" Silphen pleaded, following the mare while avoiding the flurry of items.

“As I said, no time! If they find a stream they could entirely esca- ah ha!” She interrupted herself as she brought out a pair of saddlebags. Putting them on, she quickly trotted towards the door. Looking back after opening it she said, “You coming?”

"For the love of the night mother, tell me what's going on!" Silphen begged as he followed her. "I know that she's half-changeling, but why were they trying to foalnap her?"

“Right… You knew she was a half-breed, so I assumed you knew.” She said as they sprinted through the streets of ponyville, taking paths that seemed to have no ponies on it. “How much do you know of changeling society?”

"Honestly? Fuck all. I know they got hives and queens and that Chrysalis is the self appointed Queen of all Changelings, and is based in the center of the Badlands. That's really all that's the same between worlds…" Silphen said as he effortlessly followed, running along on all fours to keep up.

“Ponies actually named her Queen of the Changelings after Princess Mi Amore’s wedding, A fact the other Queens aren’t keen to correct them on. Changeling’s follow a strict caste system, Queen, Royal, Infiltrator, Drone, it’s both a social designation, and a physical designation.” She explained, turning a corner that led into the small stretch of grass in the direction of the Everfree.

"Seriously? Wow… So wait, what about half-breeds? They're not… They're hunted, aren't they…?" Silphen asked as the info sank in. "Fucking hell, how hard has it been for her…?"

“Not just hunted, Any half-breed born is grounds for a hive to be cleansed. She… Doesn’t actually know that changelings see her as a weapon of mass destruction. It was a stupid thing to keep from her, but I’ve never taken her anywhere other than Canterlot, and the hives avoid the city.”

"Shit… I'm sorry, Aurana… I didn't know how much of a bad idea this would be…" Silphen said as he leapt over roots and small game traps that he and Sam had set so they could eat some meat.

“Thirty years ago, Chrysalis’s Hive started an all out war with the other six, Changeling wars don’t involve flashy magic and lethal weapons, usually the two queens would agree to the resources to be set aside, and the royals would battle amongst themselves.” Aurana explained as she led the way, never seeming to have to jump over a trap or root. “No changeling except for Chrysalis’s hive knows how it started, but she didn’t claim resources, she didn’t declare war. And she didn’t let the royals play amongst themselves. Instead, it was explained to me that at first it seemed like a small group of four ponies suddenly found Queen Locust’s hive. When they went to capture them, the four suddenly drained the lings into empty husks.”

"Those ponies were half-breeds, weren't they…?" Silphen asked solemnly as he sent a glare at a Timberwolf that was getting a bit too close for his comfort.

“They were, The hive was filled with husks by the time any ling knew what was going on. Queen Locust was never found afterwards. A year later, Queen Imago’s hive was nearly husked, survivors fled to other hives and told them… Soon, The other hives had birthed half-breeds and prepared them for war.” She suddenly turned right on a dime, entirely surprising both the timberwolf and Silphen.

Silphen yipped and scrabbled to keep following, making sure to fling a stone at the construct as he did. "So where are we going then!? Sam's mineshaft broke through to their hive I think, since the carts always returned ruined coming from a certain direction…"

“I thought you were a wolf?! I’m following the ling’s tracks, they’re definitely an infiltrator, probably been in Ponyville longer than the Elements of Harmony. He’s sloppy though, sure, he’s stopped his bleeding and he flew, so he didn’t leave hoofprints, but he was careless when traveling through the forest.” She said, her ears swiveling as she suddenly changed direction.

"You wanna talk to Ashton then? Because he's the real wolf! I'm just tagging along for the ride!" Silphen said in response as he huffed and began leaping from tree to tree, climbing up to the top of the forest so he could try and find the bug easier.

“You won’t find him up there, he’s purposefully staying under the tree cover…” Her ears swiveled once more as she paused to focus. “He’s about four hundred yards south.”

"Fuck, you serious? At least it's smar- Wait, why am I praising the bastard when he tried to foalnap Jade!?" Silphen demanded angrily, blasting another Timberwolf away with a gust of wind.

“As I said, he’s most likely an infiltrator, they’re trained from birth for this kind of situation.” She said, running past a Timberwolf, it’s chase never starting as it was whipped back by a tree branch.

"Hmph… Still don't like it…" Silphen grumbled as he quieted down for the rest of the run.

He flew through the forest with haste, the entrance to the hive was only another hour away. He winced as a branch whipped across his cracked carapace. Since when did pony foals have weapons and combat expertise? The queen wouldn’t be happy that he lost the half-breed, now they couldn’t question which hive it was being raised by.

They couldn’t afford the justice they had brought onto themselves by such actions as the Praetor War. While the Half-breed larva wasn’t wary of him, that only meant the hive hadn’t started indoctrinating them against other hives. He needed to tell the queen, then they could rescue-

His thoughts were jumbled as he was tackled from the side, crashing hard against the roots at the base of a tree. He looked up, the figure of a brown pony was standing over him. Her face scrunched up in an expression of anger… ponies never could pull off that expression and still be threatening…

She gently smacked the side of his head with a hoof. Her blurry face came into focus, and he realized the intelligent sounds were speech.

"-who's your queen?!"

His focus came clearer, his training came back.

"Chrysa-" she smacked him harder than before, he felt liquid dribbling down his muzzle.

"I know how hives work, tell me what queen you follow or I'll have my coltfriend here turn your exoskeleton into an endoskeleton! And trust me, he knows seven different ways of doing so." She moved her head, his eyes finally focused on the skinny and sleeker diamond dog behind her.

The creature smiled darkly, the purple mists of dark magic appear to be flowing from his eyes and mouth. "Only reason I'm not doing it purely on principle is because she tricked me into a contract. Devious little mare, this one is," he said with a dark chuckle.

"..." He kept quiet. It was standard protocol when the hive's existence had been revealed to pony kind.

"Let me guess, Imago, no, she's near Griffonstone, Morpho maybe? Although you're quite a long way away from the north… I bet you follow Locust-'' With each queen's name his surprise grew deeper until he completely widened his eyes at the last name. No Ling, let along a pony should know shes-

"She's alive?" The pony asked in surprise. He could only nod solemnly. It wouldn't work to deny it, this pony seemed to be trained in infiltration. So much so he doubted she was a pony, if not for the emotions he could clearly feel from her.

"And how do you know all those names, if I might ask? Not even I knew the names of them all." The strange dog asked the mare, clearly just as surprised.

“Not important.” she held up a hoof to stop further questions. “You’re going to take us to your hive, now.”

“I’d rather be incinerated.” He replied instantly.

"That can be arranged, and then undone. I've performed small resurrections on some ponies around town after they passed away from a heart attack. Managed to disguise it as resuscitating them too, so you wouldn't even realize it happened." The dog said with a slightly frightening smile, almost as if he was wanting the Changeling to challenge him to try it.

“I don’t think your pet understands as well as you do. You’ve taken me by surprise, I won’t deny that, but you can burn me, Maim me, I will never let you harm my hive.” He stared into the ponies eyes before letting his head flop back, closing his eyes. The dog smiled and reached out and lightly touched him, pushing an immense amount of pleasure into his body and mind.

"Pain can be trained against. But not pleasure." He said with a dark chuckle.

The changeling chuckled. His eyes opened as he looked at the dog. His body didn’t move excessively, although his limbs occasionally twitched. “How much do you understand what your magic is doing? And how much do you just go off of feeling?”

He didn’t do much else, although he continued chuckling as he laid his head back down. Noting the slightly worried look the pony had when looking at the dog. Silphen’s smile widened, but he kept pumping pleasure into him. "Eventually, the false pleasure you're feeling will fill your body and make you unable to take in anymore love. At which point you'll start to feel sick and be forced to remove the excess amount through any means necessary. I won't hurt you, bug, but instead make your body hurt itself. Tick tock, little bug…. Tick… tock…"

“Do you know what it means to serve a greater cause dog? One which at the end of the night, you can sleep next to your nestmates and say, ‘I’m satisfied.’? I doubt you have, I doubt you have any nestmates left, all driven away by-”

"Shut. Up." He said darkly, every nerve in the bugs body lighting up with pain for a fraction of a second. "I am stuck here because of some elder abomination trapping me here. I had a family that cared, and friends that laughed. But you know what I never had in that place, bug? Someone I cared for enough to be willing to kill and torture to protect. Now tell me what the hell you want with Jade, or so help me you'll wish you could stay dead."

“Jade… So that is what you have named the creature you have deigned to use as a tool, as a weapon of mass destruction… You treat them as lessers, as mere soldiers… When will they have a choice? When will they have the ability to look at another, and say the same words I say to myself every day…”

"A TOOL!?" The dog shouted, lighting up every nerve in pain again.

“Silphen!” The pony yelled, making the dog growl and take a step back, ending the pain. She turned back to the changeling. Her face was less harsh than before. “I am Aurana, adopted daughter of Corixidae, and the pony you just tried to ponynap, is my half sister…”

“Corixidae…” The changeling looked at her with incredulousness.

"Jade is a filly, you worthless bug! We are trying to protect her, and I myself am doing a very shit poor job of it if I can't keep a single drone from knocking her out!" Silphen growled, snapping his teeth mere inches away from his face.

The changeling ignored him, Looked straight past him at Aurana. “He’s alive?” When she shook her head, for the first time, his features fell. “Oh…”

Silphen took a step back, blinking in shock. He had a feeling she had just ran away with Jade, not that their dad was dead. Then he thought about it for a bit and growled out a name filled with enough venom to kill an Alicorn, "Chrysalis…"

The changeling got up, seemingly no worse for wear after all of what he had gone through. He turned to look at them. “Well? The hive isn’t moving, so we better.”

“You’re seriously...?” Aurana said, surprised.

“Corixidae was my instructor… And many of us saw him drained in front of us. So are you coming?” The Changeling didn’t take off flying, but turned back and began walking through the underbrush.

Silphen shared a look with Aurana before shrugging and following after the changeling.

Chapter 17: Part 1

The nausea stopped as Sam beheld the Nether. There was less lava than he imagined, although it was still a large cavern. He peered down the edge of the cliff his portal had spawned upon. The drop was steep, leading down to a small pit of lava, surrounded by the red rock: which he broke and confirmed that it was, indeed, netherrack. Above the lava was an outcropping, in which a large, dark-red bricked castle stood. With a flourish of his book, and a jump, he soared through the air and landed. His vampiric featherfall, combined with his own spell and his power armor caused him to not even take half a heart.

The gate was menacing, built to look like a large red skull. He equipped his sword and wandered in, listening for the sounds of mobs… which there was a distinct lack of. He hadn’t even seen any basic mobs around where he was. The eerie silence and desolation continued to the throne room. Inside, golden statues of some goatlike centaur crowded the walls. The red carpet stretched onwards down a large room until it ended in a throne, built, like most of the thrones in his new world, for an equine to comfortably sit their entire body down on it, only this one was twice the size of him.

He walked down the plush carpet before feeling the stone throne. He ran a hand down the armrest, turning around and sitting down, curious on how whatever maniac who built this place could get satisfaction from staring at a room full of the same golden statue all day.

The hall was long and spacious from where he sat. The emptiness bringing a desolate feeling, atleast until the sound of hooves on the floor greeted his ears. Through the doorway he had come in came a small pink pegasus. Her blue, two-toned Curled mane bobbed as she trotted in. Sam gave her a puzzled look, which… she couldn’t see behind his helmet… Regardless, she seemed to perk up at his presence.

“Excuse me mister, I’m incredibly lost…” the little pegasus, Sam believed they called the females, fillies, said in a brooklyn accent.

Sam stood up, his blank helmet seemingly giving the apparent filly a short pause before she continued trotting to him.

“I- I was practicing flying, and my fweind… His parents say he’s getting late magic surges, well, he was practicing and sent me here… But I-” Her words were interrupted by Sam switching to his sword and swinging it down beside her. She flinched, backing away after falling down.

“M-mister..?” She shakily said. Sam looked at her for a few moments more before equipping his sword.

“Apologies. The denizens of the Nether are evil Incarnate. I had to make sure this version didn’t have shapeshifters.” Sam knelt down, but didn’t get close. Afterall, he had just drawn a sword on her, although he still didn’t take off his helmet.

“N-Nether? This isn’t- I mean, th-that wasn’t so scary…” Sam stayed kneeling as she got up. He couldn’t imagine her journey throughout here.

“How long have you been here?” He asked gently as she got closer, he was probably the first thing that hadnen’t seriously tried to attack her. Or atleast apologized afterwards.

“Golly… I don’t know mister, my hooves are sore and hot, and I’ve slept twice… I just want to go home…” Sam debated in his head for a few moments before wanting to slap himself. This was very clearly a filly, not some evil Nether demon or ghast!

“Right, well, I have a secret way out of here, but you have to promise to tell nobod- Nopony, I’ll tell you how to get past the traps you’ll see on your way out meant for others trying to escape. If you can, you think you’re brave enough to tell me what you encountered here?”

“Uh-huh mister, promise not to tell. a. Soul. And it wasn’t that scary! I’m the bravest filly around here mister, so sure!” Sam laughed at her bravado. Getting up they walked out of the fortress. He talked about his portal, and the ways to get around the traps they set around it to prevent the mobs coming through and causing trouble.

In return, she described how the Nether was split into atleast three territories she had been through. The most northern part was filled with fiery lava pits, all manner of creatures immune to lava sat bathing all day and fighting everything they saw. East of the fortress laid a territory filled to the brim with sticky webbing and dark whispers. And finally the west was pretty barren except for a single structure in which the denizens fought eachother.

They parted ways at the portal, with her disappearing through it as he waved goodbye. He’d probably tell Ashton when he got back. Right now though, he had work to do. He needed two things, blaze rods and wither skulls. He supposed he’d go north first, which he might find blazes, or something equivalent.

The journey wasn’t that hard, this nether didn’t seem to require much vertical scaling, and the heat couldn’t get through his power armor. He just needed to avoid stepping in lava, which he hadn’t seen until he crested a ridge. Below stretched hundreds of pools, and he could barely make out a variety of creatures bathing in them. To him they looked like mutated dragons, but he saw plenty of leathery skinned animals, which as far as he knew, weren’t normally lava-proof.

He dropped down, his armor and his feather falling ensuring he took no damage as he landed. The first thing to notice him was a large mass of sentient lava, which turned and began to slink towards him, very different from how the Cube version hopped around in the distance.

He switched to his sword in his hotbar, remade after it had broken in the fight with Vargas. He kept his spellbook in his inventory, he probably wouldn’t need it for a simple magma cube… slime? Whatever he was calling them, he moved forward and struck down vertically on the mass of lava. It lurched away, far quicker to compress itself than it was at expanding to move, before the magma slime tried to wrap around his wrist.

With a twist of his wrist, he slashed vertically upwards, ignoring the half heart of damage he took from touching the creature as his sword ripped through it, causing it to recoil in surprise and pain as part of it's form fell to the ground and bubbled away to stone, no longer supported by it's being. Upon realizing he was not prey, the slime immediately tried to flee, pulsating quickly as it squirmed to escape his blade.

He ran after it, slashing down with his blade on the remaining mass. Watching as one more half bubbled away before he swung once more, this time it bubbled into nothingness. With no loot he began walking deeper into the area. His regeneration having already healed the half heart he had taken… only to be tackled by a very scaly unicorn with a split horn and fiery mane along its body and tail.

He struggled as his head was repeatedly bashed against the hard red stone as they tumbled, before finally getting a leg between himself and the odd fiery unicorn, pushing it off as he quickly rolled backwards into a crouching position as he took in the creature with more detail.

It, a she if the long eyelashes were a good indicator, was glaring at him and seemed to have snake-like fangs and could breath fire if the small gout of it coming from the sides of her muzzle were any indication. The fact her horn glowed with a pinkish red hue as she screamed and charged at him likely meant she could use some kind of magic…

He sidestepped her charge, only to be kicked backwards as her front hooves dug deep into the stone and bucked behind her. His hearts ticked down as he was lit on fire by her hooves. It ended quickly though, but he skidded backwards, his head stopping right above a lava pit, the other creatures that had been in the vicinity having disappeared.

This pony did not seem to be as friendly as her Equestria counterparts, since the instant she saw him near the lava pool, she jumped on him and began hitting his helmet with her forehooves and breathing fire in his face, no doubt trying to end him before he killed another member of the region.

He did his best to keep his head above the lava, ignoring the ticking of his health from the fire and heat, only barely mitigated by his regeneration. The hooves however… Despite dealing half a heart per hit, she was still quite strong. She was also standing on his arms. Luckily, he didn’t need to move his arms to access his inventory. His spellbook appeared in his hand, it’s pages rapidly turning to his leaping spell.

With a quick look on the opposite side of the lava pool, he activated the spell. She was thankfully surprised enough that he was able to turn himself midair and punch her off of him. He grunted as he landed on his chest on the other side, the strange unicorn wasn’t as lucky, landing at the edge of the lava pool with a smack as she dropped into the lava. He got up and took a breather, and a regeneration spell.

Only for the mare to leap out of the pool, even more furious now! She had some clear damage, in the form of a red welt on her stomach and face where she belly flopped onto the lava, but seemed completely unfazed by being completely submerged on the liquid death!

He sighed. The fire in this fight was wreaking havoc on his health. And he couldn’t mimic what he had done against Vargas. He wasn’t getting any chance to bite her, nor did he think it would be smart with her on fire. He checked his health as she came at him once more. Half health…

He used his spellbook to build a wall in front of him, leaping backwards to get some distance as he equipped his sword in his other hand. Her surprise had worn off, he was now ready.

Luckily for him, the mare simply stumbled out from behind the wall, a bit dazed as she calmed down a bit, her flames flickering a bit as she looked around to try and find her target. When she finally did, she growled once more and rushed at him again, clearly not going to go down easy.

He himself hissed as he made a note of another lava pool several meters behind him. He put his hands in front of her head as she rammed him, pushing him back to the lava pit before he kneed her chin, ignoring the heart and a half of damage he took in the process.

He couldn’t exactly drag her with him without constantly burning himself, so he left her there as he started moving towards the biggest pool he had seen in the distance earlier. It was strange that few of the creatures attacked him. Only the magma slimes did really, the others seemed to back off or run away when he got too close.

That didn’t mean he left them alone. He killed several of the creatures, but stopped chasing them down after none of them dropped anything of what he needed. He really hoped those strange fire unicorns didn’t drop them, since they were a gray area in his view. Were they some variant of unicorns? If so, they fell under his responsibility as Prince Consort, which meant he couldn’t just indiscriminately murder them.

Speaking of which, he did keep an eye out for any more trying to ambush him. He hadn’t seen any more of her kind though. At least not until he came up to the large lava pool. There were several relaxing inside the lava like it was a hot spring.

He stopped before they saw him. Admittedly, he was ambushed earlier, but he barely survived a fight with one of them. How he wished for a potion of fire protection right about now…

The ones relaxing in the pool were having a fun time, or atleast what passed as a fun time for them as they fought over relaxing locations, the best eddies and generally insulted each other. They all paused however when a bipedal figure covered in metal, a strange thing to be covered in near the lava pits, where most of it would melt, flew through the air after having been tossed.

The book in his hands turned its pages as he leapt midair, preventing him from falling to a molten demise, and instead landing on the opposite side of the pool. He had just been kicked by the biggest fire unicorn he had ever seen. She stood there, looking across the lake at him with scorn.

She was only a foot shorter than Celestia, but that just meant instead of coming up to his waist, she came up to his neck. She wore nothing indicating any status, but her size was probably an indication of her leadership through pony logic. He healed himself, she had taken a single heart off of him, as she spoke across the lake.

“What do you think you’re doing here, mortal? Do you think you stand a chance against us Nirik’s!?” She called out angrily and somewhat rudely. She clearly did not think much of him, despite having survived being hit by her at full force.

He laughed. Although at what he didn’t know. Maybe it was stress, maybe he had finally lost it or whatever, but the condescension, mixed with the image of the Nirik as she called herself, just created a funny image in his mind.

He removed his helmet. If they were talking, he might as well be partially cordial. His crimson eyes stared at her as he smiled, his fangs showing. “Prince Consort of Equestria, Sam. I’m quite busy, so if you could show me where some Blaze rods, these yellow rods that are really hot, are at, that’d be nice.”

Her eyes twitch in rage and her flames burn ever brighter, turning a deep purple, almost black, as she growled dangerously at him, saying, “You will leave these lands, or you will die by my hooves. NOW.”

“Heh. I’d like to see you succeed!” He yelled as he put his helmet back on. Already casting his regeneration and strength spells.

She screamed in rage as she charged across the pools of lava, as if she were walking on solid blocks or stone instead of molten rock and death. She lowered her horn, intent on impaling him it seemed, before suddenly leaping and exploding in those black flames and coating the area in soul flame.

He had already dodged out of the way. His sword in hand as he leapt over the flames. He swung his sword down on where she had landed, obscured by smoke as she was. Luckily for him, he nicked her. Unluckily for him, he pissed her off even more by doing so, making the flames even hotter.

Sam retreated out of the smoke. The fire was slightly outpacing his regeneration, so he had to change his tactics. Checking his debuff, he would be on fire for twenty seconds. While he wouldn’t die, she would literally cause him to respawn out of attrition at that rate. He had to think of something and fast…

The answer jumped into his lap. Literally as one of the nearby Nirik jumped at him, missed, and landed against his lap. And she looked clearly confused by the misjudgment, looking around for the fleshy infiltrator as she could only see a metallic statue. Seemed she was under the lava when he was spotted by the others.

He grit his teeth as the idea literally fell into his lap. His helmet retracted as he grabbed the Nirik’s head and body, biting down on her scorching flesh. It felt like drinking boiling water as his healing from drinking barely covered the health loss. His fire debuff renewed, but it didn’t matter due to the buff below it, fire resistance.

The Nirik leader spotted this as the smoke faded away, and she froze up, unable to believe what she was seeing. “Vam… Pony…?” Then her flames burn ever brighter and hotter, turning the nearby netherack into a more malleable form as she roared in rage while charging at him once more.

He quickly discarded the Nirik into the pool of lava, she’d be fine, if just woozy. His entire form was lit up in bluish purple flames as he deflected her charge with the side of his sword, bashing her upside the head as well. She grunts in surprise and pain as her head gets knocked to the side, her horn scraping his armor worthlessly as she passes by him.

While she was momentarily stunned, he cast his spell, a wall rose up behind her which he leapt atop of, before boxing her in with three more. “Give up, your flames can’t hurt me anymore.”

She looked around, shaking her head to focus, before looking up at him and growling faintly. “And why should I?! You’re here to attack and kill us, aren’t you!? Who sent you? The spider queen in the weblands!?”

“I think you should clean the stone out of your ears, I said I was the Prince Consort of Equestria, what part of that introduction included anything involving spiders!”

“The fact that someone from that WHORSE’S castle would NEVER be down here willingly! So you’re lying!”

She didn’t even see as he jumped down, kicking her in the head. She did feel her horn be squashed upon the slowly melting floor however, pushed underneath his boot. “Spawn from the nether have no right to say such things about my fiance...”

She felt the boot be raised off of her, before she curled up into a ball as the wind was knocked out of her by the same boot.

“F-fiance,,,? S-Sombra… H-how are you…?” She asked before passing out and letting her flames die down to how they would normally be.

He hissed as he mined the blocks he had raised away. The other Nirik’s gasps as their figures were revealed. He drove his sword deep into the stone beside the leader’s head. “You have bore witness to my strength, as you all seem to make abundantly clear through violence. I, Sam, claim your territory as my own, any objections?”

When no one spoke up he nodded, grabbed several blocks of stone, and made the most uncomfy chair imaginable as he sat down in it, waiting for the Nirik leader to wake up.

Author's Note

IT'S ALIVE!

I truly do apologize for the extreme delay on this chapter, but both mine and my co-author's lives have been... Busy, to say the least. Delays, hopefully, will not be as long as this.